Friday, June 13, 2014

The Fault in Our Stars


The most irritating thing about the hugely popular teen romance novel The Fault in Our Stars is that just about every sentence uttered by Hazel Grace and Gus – teen protagonists in love and terminally ill – is so cleverly sardonic, ironic, or full of elevated vocabulary and literary allusions. A major advantage of the film is that the dialogue is made more realistic – in keeping with this very realistic treatment of love, death, and dying. But the film’s best asset is the performance of Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace. Woodley’s maturity and poise as an actress suit the maturity and poise of the principal character and, even when the film slips into excessive sentimentality or sheer silliness, Woodley’s invested performance is the driving force that makes this a film worth lining up for with bevies of teenage girls.

No comments: