The Fault in our Stars Film

The Fault in our Stars Book Review

I managed to finish reading the book and see the film in the same day. Here are some of my thoughts about the book to film adaption of John Green's The Fault in our Stars.

Spoilers Ahead!

Lol

Imagine if that went to her spam filter.

The texting that happens throughout the book is animated bubbles on the screen. While I dislike it because it looks juvenile, I also can’t suggest a better way to show the audience what they are texting. The emails were jarring as well, but you don’t want a camera zooming in on all those emails, either.  

Hazel’s thoughts are absent, and for me, that is a huge plus. They seem more like normal people on an adventure that most of us will never experience. Occasionally their dialogue quotes the book, but it doesn’t always work when two people actually try to say these words to each other. 

I’m glad they kept Hazel’s cannula. I wondered if they would cut that detail out because it is a constant reminder that she is very ill, and it is difficult to give the audience the standard of beauty they are used to. I don’t want to imply that people with cannulas can’t be pretty, but the all-powerful media doesn't usually associate them with beauty. They associate it with sickness, and then we tend to treat people as a different class of citizen that is completely unsexual.

Caroline is absent in the film, and I can say that I don’t mind. To me, she didn’t add much to the book. Yes, Hazel sees how traumatic it was for everyone when Caroline died. But she doesn’t need to be aware of Caroline to understand how people will be affected when she dies. She knew that before.

Kaitlyn is also cut from the film, and I think it works better. Hazel’s friendlessness solidifies that she has been placed in this separate group, the ill, the temporary inhabitants of this earth, and she is depressed. Or she possibly removed herself from her old friends. Either way, it works.

Most of the videogame scenes are gone. As a videogamer and reviewer, I am disappointed. Although Hazel doesn’t play (or at least that I can recall), she bonds with both Augustus and Isaac when they play. Plus, we got to see how Isaac gets to play after his surgery.

Their meeting is different: in the film, they just bump into each other. I thought it was awkward, but it is less awkward then noticing a guy staring at you relentlessly like Edward Cullen.

John Green had a cameo appearance in the film, but it was cut to maintain a better narrative flow. Good news is, you can still see the small clip:

The film has to hurry along events that transpire over days or weeks, but that is normal for films. It even works to its benefit, as I liked how Van Houten gave Hazel the pages. Yet we don’t really see Augustus’s decline, apart from the G-tube infection.

The best scene is when Isaac throws the eggs. Luckily, I have a clip of that too:

They cut the scene where Augustus’s illness is foreshadowed! This is what stood out to me the most after the film.Why cut the foreshadowing? I read that part of the book, and I wondered if Augustus's parents didn't want him to get involved with another terminal girl. Even though I joked to myself that I knew where the plot was headed and how the book would end, I didn't see exactly that when Hazel and her mom accidentally hear Augustus and his mom fighting.

Unfortunately, I have already seen Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort play brother and sister in the Divergent film, so I kept thinking of that. In The Fault in our Stars they also look alike to a degree, especially with Hazel's short hair.

Should you go see the film?

Do you like to get the warm and fuzzies when a young couple is in love?

Do you like your heart to be broken/do you think the world is just too bloody cheerful?

Do you like Amsterdam (aside from the red light districts)?

If you answered "yes" or "sure" or "sometimes", then YES! Go see the film. Go cry like a baby.