DIRECTOR: Josh Boone

CAST: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe, Nat Wolff

REVIEW:

An adaptation of John Green’s best-selling young adult novel of the same name, The Fault In Our Stars could be seen as a sort of cousin of 2011’s 50/50 (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in the way it takes an irreverent approach to a subject as difficult as cancer without neglecting the underlying seriousness of the situation. The emphasis here is more on romance; calling it a teen romantic comedy-drama with a side of cancer (or is it a cancer movie with a side of teen romantic comedy-drama?) might be an oversimplification, but it sums it up in a nutshell. The story is formulaic, but it’s bumped up by a nice touch with character interaction and the appeal and chemistry of stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. The result is not an exceptional film, but a nice little bittersweet story both poignant and life-affirming that like 50/50 manages to tell a “cancer story” without being mawkish and melodramatic about it.