Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort
Director: Josh Boone
Genre: Romantic drama, comedy
Running time: 126 minutes
Showing at Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall, Naalya
When Hollywood critics described Shailene Woodley as a star to watch after she appeared in The Descendants as one of George Clooney’s daughters, I was one of the skeptics. Sure she made one interesting pregnant teenager in The Secret Life of the American Teenager but we have seen stars whose successful shows end after only appearing in one good movie and then fade away.
But Woodley looks like she is really taking Hollywood by storm this year. First, it was her role as Tris in Divergent, which captured our attention and had several people comparing her to Jennifer Lawrence and now it is this novel turned film that has even sparked Oscar talk.
In The Fault In Our Stars, she plays Hazel, a teenager who suffers from cancer and has to drag an oxygen tank everywhere she goes. And while the tank and the nasal cannula should be a distraction, it doesn’t draw away from the beautiful love story between Hazel and Gus (Ansel Elgort), a boy she meets in a cancer support group. If you have watched Divergent, you might recognise Elgort who plays Woodley’s character’s brother.
Gus and Hazel’s romance is beautiful because they are young and heartbreaking because from the start of the movie, you are aware that Hazel is terminally ill so you are always waiting for the other shoe to drop. But the two characters are so alive with wit and mischief that you can’t help forgetting and just enjoying the movie. While it has the potential of being too mushy on the love story and therefore unappealing to the jaded hearts, there are somber scenes that balance it all out so the guys don’t feel like they are watching a chick flick.
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