The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Directed by: Josh Boone
Country: USA

Movie Review: Written by the successful duo Scott Neustadter/Michael H.Weber, formerly responsible for scripts such as “The Spectacular Now” or “(500) Days of Summer”, “The Fault in Our Stars” follows the usual teen romance, but this time with the particularity of having cancer as the main obstacle. The story, based on John Green’s novel, takes place in Indianapolis where the 16-year-old Hazel (Shailene Woodley) was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 13, now metastasized to her lungs. She is an isolated person whose boring life consists pretty much in watching reality shows, going to doctor appointments, and attending support meetings at the local church. All of this will change after she gets to know the confident and unembarrassed Gus in one of those meetings. Naturally, the strong friendship established, evolves to a passionate romance that was never able to reach my emotions. The predictable story plays excessively with the couple’s extreme happiness or sadness; in the first situation, the scenes were depicted with an uncontrolled sweetness, while in the second one, the result was an exacerbated sentimentality. Everything that falls out of these two situations can be called idiotic, involving Gus’ best friend Isaac, or a trip to Amsterdam to meet the admired novelist Peter Van Houten. Craftily manipulative in its intentions, occasionally derivative, and evincing a sluggish narrative, Josh Boone’s sophomore feature “The Fault in Our Stars”, didn’t stood out in any aspect, becoming much more sloppy than rewarding.