Teenager Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) has been suffering from cancer all her young life, which has since spread into her lungs but she has somehow survived from it due to a miracle drug. Recently diagnosed with depression, she starts to attend a church support group, where she lock eyes with Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a boy stricken with a disease that has already cost him a leg. The two bond and slowly start to fall in love amid all of the medical drama. I'll state the obvious first: This movie wasn't made specifically for me. But, even if this came out during my teen years, I would still roll my eyes throughout its two hour running time. All of the contrived, hipster dialogue was pathetic, never making care for the characters at all during the first act. Word of warning: If you see Augustus put a cigarette in his mouth for the first time, run to the concession stand as soon as possible unless you somehow seek to suffer from a massive groan. The middle chapters are a bit better, moving the story to Amsterdam and allowing Woodley to fully show her immense charm and Elgort to finally break out as an actor. It also gives us not only the film's best sequence but one of the best cameos of the year. These great elements don't fully excuse the creepily designed first kiss scene between the two though. Once you reach the last stretch, you pretty much know where it's going to go, so be ready to wade your shoes through a river of tissues as you exit. Even then, however, director Josh Boone finds a way to wreck things, ruining the most devastating scene thanks to spoiler narration. Though I give it a low rating, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS wasn't a waste of romance. It had its own eccentric set of charms, pleasing to some but not all viewing it.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
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