nut free nerd

The Fault in Our Stars movie starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort (Hazel and Gus) was released on June 6th here in the United States, and luckily I was able to see it on opening weekend (on Sunday, to be exact). I was quite apprehensive about seeing this movie, and you can read more about my worries in my post last week by clicking here.  However, I nevertheless tried to keep an open mind and an optimistic attitude as I trekked to the nearest movie theater to view this much-anticipated movie.

I left that theater feeling like such an awful person for ever doubting its greatness.

It was unbelievably good, so good that it exceeded all expectations I ever had of it by light years. The acting was incredible, especially by Shailene Woodley. Her emotions felt real and raw and not once did I think of her role in Divergent or any other production. For those two hours she was Hazel Grace Lancaster, through and through. And for a reader, that was huge.

Ansel Elgort did an excellent job as well. I felt like he really nailed the quirky personality that Augustus Waters has in the book. Some critics claim that he made Gus seem too pretentious, but I would argue that Gus is a bit pretentious- he’s cool and confident yet dorky and heartfelt all at the same time. Ansel communicated all of those qualities through his fantastic performance.

Watching this amazing story come to life on the big screen was surreal. It was sort of strange, to be honest. This novel felt so personal to me- not because I had any experience with having cancer, but because I adored the story. It’s a book I’ve read multiple times, highlighted and sticky-noted and raved about to everyone I know. I had defined images in my mind of what Hazel and Gus and Isaac and Hazel’s parents and all the other characters looked like. I was amazed at how closely the movie corresponded with the personal images I had developed over the years.

Did they incorporate every single scene from the book into the movie? No. Were there parts left out or missing, little details that readers noticed? Sure. But I absolutely do not think that the movie suffered because of this. I would much rather they spend more time on important scenes then trying to cram every last thing that happened in the book into a two-hour time frame.

Overall, The Fault in Our Stars was an amazing movie. I do think that the book was better, but no movie could have changed my mind on that account. This film blew me away.

Bravo.

Yours,

HOLLY