Stratospheric....

    The Fault In Our Stars should be a model of how to transcend the disease of the week genre.  Screenwriters Scott Neustadtler and Michael H Weber should be commended for the choices they make.  Choices that ultimately lift The Fault In Our Stars above and beyond the level of
of a manipulative tear jerker.  One of the more prudent choices made by writers Scott Neustadtler and Michael H. Weber choices is to treat the respective illnesses of the main characters Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Elgort) as a looming elephant in the room and not a button to be pushed whenever the plot needs it to be.  The screenplay by Scott Neustadtler and Michael H Weber is aware of the destiny that ultimately awaits Hazel and Gus but wisely, their focus is on the elements of love and pathos and these two extraordinary people who have are blessed with enough awareness to make every moment between them count.
 
  I've read some reviews that have taken director Josh Boone to task for directing this film with a heavy hand.  IE, his use of music to evoke a certain tone at key moments in the film.  Namely, the payoff scene in the last act.  I could not disagree more.  Yes, there are few moments when it feels like director Josh Boone is maybe trying to use the sound track as a means to create romantically nostalgic pathos.  For the most part though, director Josh Boone functions very well as an observer. He is unobtrusive when the film needs him to be and he is observant when the film needs him to be.  There is a great moment when Gus declares his love for Hazel after a romantic dinner.  The shot of Hazel's reaction when she hears Gus declare his love for her is handled with such delicateness and such care and such skill.  It's like I've always said, a good director knows when to lead and when to simple get out of the way of their actors.  Perhaps the best moment in the film is when Hazel and Gus have a rather sour experience with a writer they admire named Van Houten (Wilem Defoe.)  Most directors would use this sequence as an excuse to create artifical tension to set up the separation and then the eventually reuniting of the characters.  Instead of treating them as pawns in the plot, writers  Scott Neustadtler and Michael H Weber instill in their characters an uncanny sense of self awareness that, in my view, lifts this film to greater heights.
 
  Plot:  Hazel (Shailenne Woodley)  is a seventeen year old who has thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs.  But thanks to an experimental treatment, Hazel has been blessed with some added time in terms of her survival rate.  Forced by her mother Frannie (Laura Dern) to attend a cancer support group, Hazel ultimately meets another cancer survivor named Gus (Ansel Elgort) who lost a leg to a form of bone cancer.  What starts as a meet cute blossoms into a full fledged romance that transcends both time and circumstance for Hazel and Gus.  I'll stop there, you can decipher the rest of the plot on your own.
 
  I've thrown more than a few accolades at the writers and at director Josh Boone, but let me praise the performances of Shailene Woodley  (Hazel) and Ansel Elgort (Gus.)  The chemistry between Woodley and Elgort is undeniable and Woodley takes a seemingly one dim,ensional role and instills it with depth and vigor.  Elgort as Gus pulls off a difficult balancing act of being charming and memorable without becoming obvious about it after awhile.  In the hands of Woodley and Elgort, Hazel and Gus aren't just the typical one note terminal cases in a typical one note tear jerker.

   I've heard critics say that the scene towards the end of the last act involving the eulogy is manipulative.  I say it's genuine and well acted by everyone in the scene.  If you've ever faced down the mortality of a loved one, Hazel's eyes tell you all that you need to know.  This is a film that is genuine and honest and this is a film that has it's priorities straight.