The first half of the film, then, shares the linear story of their awkward courtship. Gus meets Hazel and is smitten immediately. Gus attends the same group, which is run by the kind of stereotypical clueless zealot that Hollywood loves to use as a cheap stand-in for Christianity. She also carries around a cynical outlook on life, which comes to the forefront when her mother (Laura Dern) persuades her to join a support group at a local Christian church.Īnsel Elgort plays Gus, also a teen dealing with cancer, but he's in recovery from a bout that took his right leg below the knee. Because of this, she has to carry an oxygen tank to breathe. Shailene Woodley plays Hazel, a teenager with stage-four terminal cancer. The key to a good story is conflict, and an early lack of conflict undermines “The Fault in Our Stars,” a well-intended film about loving life while dealing with death. When the pair, dressed for a fancy repast of risotto and Dom Pérignon, gaze across the table at each other, their characters’ love, defiant and resolute, feels real.“ THE FAULT IN OUR STARS ” - 2 1/2 stars - Shailene Woodley, Willem Dafoe, Laura Dern, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Mike Birbiglia PG-13 (thematic elements, some sexuality and brief strong language) in general release And Elgort (the son of photographer Arthur Elgort) is like a baby-faced Brando – disarming, and armed with a killer grin. Even her sappier voice-overs (“I fell in love with him the way you fall asleep – slowly, then all at once”) have the ring of truth. Woodley, who has come a long way since her promising debut as George Clooney’s troubled daughter in The Descendants, balances grace with gravity, wit with heart. Weber (The Spectacular Now, (500) Days of Summer) that they’re going to approach John Green’s young-adult megaseller with as much humor as possible. It’s presided over by a guitar-strumming born again-er played by comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia – an early clue from director Josh Boone and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H.

Her parents (Laura Dern and Sam Trammell) are brave and supportive, and encourage Hazel to bravely attend a cancer-support group at the local church. A sweet and bittersweet, smart and smarting tale of cancer-stricken lovebirds, The Fault in Our Stars has Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 17-year-old who has lived with chemotherapy, oxygen tanks, and experimental drug treatments since age 13.

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