THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (2014 - ROMANCE / COMEDY /
DRAMA) ****1/2 out of ***** OR 9 out of 10
(LOVE STORY - for a new generation...)
CAST:
Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Nat Wolff, Sam
Trammell, Lotte Verbeek.
DIRECTOR:
John Boone
WARNING:
Some SPOILERS and more reasons to live it up while we can - straight ahead....
IT'S LIKE THIS:
Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Gus Waters (Ansel Elgort) are not
your typical teens in love. Sure, they
engage in all the expected "young-love" shenanigans like hanging out,
flirting, texting each other, and giving each other serious googley eyes across
candle-lit dinners. But beneath that
seemingly placid facade, our dear Hazel and Gus are more than your average
lovebirds. See, Hazel is suffering from
a form of blood cancer and has to constantly lug a device around that dispenses
medication into her through nostril tubes.
Gus, on the other hand, is in remission from another kind of cancer that
has already necessitated the removal of one leg. In other words, this is not your basic
"boy-meets-girl" love story.
Speaking of meetings, Hazel and Gus have their
first one at a support group session for teens with cancer. Hazel is as determined to shut everyone else
out and keep her own counsel, but Gus immediately takes a shine to her. Like a golden retriever who pledges its
undying love to its owner, Gus essentially begins to bob and circle and hover
and fawn on Hazel. Despite being
flattered by all this Human Puppy Dog attentioin, Hazel still puts up
resistance and tries to find a way to keep Gus out of her life. Unfortunately, in addition to being a happy
Golden Retriever, Gus is also apparently a determined and formidable German
Shepherd - because he just continues his campaign to break down Hazel's
standoffish defenses.
Eventually realizing that life is just too damn
short to keep resisting Gus's advances, our girl Hazel finally relents and lets
him in to her life. Before you know it,
our couple is living on cloud nine.
Soon, Gus surprises Hazel with the news that he has donated his wish
from the "Make A Wish" foundation to her - so that she can fly to
Amsterdam to meet the author of her favorite book, the mysterious and reclusive
Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe). Gus
even finagles it so that he and Hazel's loving mom, Frannie (Laura Dern), can
go with her. All in all, it seems like
things are looking up for our lovely couple.
But will it last?
How much longer can their Cloud Nine continue? Will Hazel's complications arise again? Will Gus's remission end? And what awaits them at Peter Van Houten's
house in Amsterdam? How will he affect
Gus and Hazel's life? Can Hazel and Gus
have a happy ending?
Let's just say that happy endings come in many
different forms. Some are just more
subtle than others. Sniffle...
BUT SERIOUSLY:
One of 1991's biggest box-office misfires was DYING YOUNG, which starred
Campbell Scott as a rich young man dying of cancer, and Julia Roberts as the
working-class girl who accepts a job as his caregiver - but then finds herself
falling in love with him. Needless to
say, this complicates matters indeed.
Expectations were high for DYING YOUNG, what with Roberts coming off a
spectacular run that began with her star-making appearance in PRETTY WOMAN
(1990), continued with FLATLINERS (1990), and kept on going in SLEEPING WITH
THE ENEMY (1991).
Unfortunately, as mentioned above, DYING YOUNG
wasn't nearly as embraced as Roberts' previous three hits. Despite opening strong at the box-office in
its first week, DYING YOUNG's attendance quickly went downhill and it ended up
grossing "just" $ 33 million - significantly lower than each of of
the last three Roberts vehicles. The
film's misfiring was mystifing at the time, since it was a love story
calculcated to appeal to Roberts' demographic of women and the men they drag to
the movies with them. I remember
watching it when it first came out, and thinking it was a little unsatisfying,
but overall still pretty decent - with Roberts in fine
"tough-but-vulnerable" form.
Ultimately, DYING YOUNG's under-performance could simply be because the
subject matter (blatantly advertised in the title) was just not the
"feel-good" vehicle that Roberts' fans were looking for that
summer.
It's interesting to note then, that the THE FAULT
IN OUR STARS (a film with some parallels to DYING YOUNG) is doing significantly
better business this summer. Is it a
matter of audience tastes changing over the past 23 years? Hard to say.
Of course, to be fair, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS in based on the
young-adult bestseller of the same name, meaning it has a built-in audience
base that was already interested in the film's adaptation. Furthermore, the trailer (seen above) became
the most viewed trailer on YouTube up until that point in time. But, in my opinion, something accounts for
why THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is currently better-received than the
similarly-themed DYING YOUNG: execution.
In past reviews, we've talked about how execution
is everything. Good ideas can founder
with mediocre or bad executions, while bad or mediocre ideas can actually
succeed with clever and skillful execution.
While DYING YOUNG was not bad at all, it has a different slant and
execution than THE FAULT IN OUR STARS which might have turned away its core
audience. DYING YOUNG's lovers were a
healthy woman and a man with cancer (unlike THE FAULT IN OUR STARS' equally-afflicted
lovers), which has a different dynamic.
Ultimately, DYING YOUNG's slant and execution probably emphasized the
"cancer element" a little too much, because of its leads who are on
opposite sides of the health spectrum - which might have made it a little bleak
for mainstream audiences just looking for an innocuous romance. Compared to THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, its
approach is also a little too "soap opera."
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, on the other hand, gives
us two leads who are on equal footing: they both have cancer - so they
understand each other's plight more.
Also, director Boone and his writers do a great job of transferring
author John Green's droll, matter-of-fact tone from the novel into the
screenplay. Consequently, its the
growing bond between Hazel and Gus that is emphasized, and not their
ailments. What's great about this film
is how it treats its leads as full-blooded human beings, first, and cancer
patients, second. DYING YOUNG's
treatment of Campbell Scott' character wasn't quite as balanced.
Speaking of Hazel and Gus, they are
perfectly-played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. Woodley is rapidly-shaping up to be a
formidable member of her generation of actresses. With her knockout performances in THE
DESCENDANTS, THE SPECTACULAR NOW, DIVERGENT, and now THE FAULT IN OUR STARTS,
she is clearly a versatile talent. She
turns Hazel into a compelling mix of surface toughness, hidden vulnerability,
and core resilience - leavened with a healthy dose of dry humor. It's appropriate that we are discussing this
film in relation to one that Julia Roberts starred in, because out of all the
young actresses working today, Shailene Woodley is the one who seems to be
repeating Roberts' meteoric rise in the early 90s. And it's completely deserved by both. I predict that, like Roberts, Woodley will
also eventually bag an Oscar for Best Actress.
It's just a matter of time.
As for Elgort as Gus, he is similarly
well-cast. It's important that Gus be
played by someone who is very attractive but also with enough of that
"dork" vibe to make him endearing.
Elgort has to walk the fine line of making Gus believably sunny and
optimistic, but also give him the necessary undercurrents of gravity,
stubborness, and melancholy needed to make him more than just a smiling,
handsome face to Hazel. In short, what
the role of Gus needed is someone who effortlessly blends "boy" and
"man" - and Elgort does that wonderfully. He is so good that the last act of this film
is particularly difficult to watch.
The supporting cast includes Laura Dern, Sam
Trammell, Nat Wolff, Lotte Verbeek, and Willem Dafoe. They are all good - but Dafoe is the standout
as Peter Van Houten, the elusive novelist who ultimately makes a big impact on
Hazel and Gus' lives, both through the printed page and in person. Verbeek is also a refreshing presence as
Lidewij, Van Houten's personal assistant who shows Hazel and Gus some
much-needed kindness in Amsterdam - and gives them a tour that they won't
forget.
In the end, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS succeeds where
DYING YOUNG stumbled because it chooses to emphasize the humanity of its leads,
rather than their sickness. While the
"cancer element" does play a larger role towards the last part of the
movie, the script refuses to define its characters by it - choosing instead to
portray them as lovers who simply want to do what lovers everywhere do: fall in
love. Nothing, not even cancer, will
stop them - and you have to admire that.
In closing, I dedicate this review to anyone who
has been touched by cancer, in any of its forms, in whatever way - whether
directly or indirectly. And that's
pretty much all of us.
