The Fault in Our Stars (2014): First Impressions

Last updated on: December 15, 2014 at 1:06 pm by Jeffrey Overstreet

The Fault in Our Stars (2014): First Impressions 2014-12-15T13:06:55-07:00 Jeffrey Overstreet

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“It was unbearable. Every second worse than the last.”

For the record, I hate cancer, and I’m in awe of those who bear that burden through unimaginable challenges. What’s more — I love a good love story.

With that settled… wow, this movie has some disappointing “faults” such that I couldn’t rate it with “stars” (plural). One… okay, one and a half, for Shailene Woodley (who is excellent), and I’ll leave it at that.

[Caution: Spoilers ahead.]

I apologize in advance if my opinion of this film seems unfairly harsh. I do not want to be a Scrooge about teen romance (I’m not), or hard-hearted toward stories of cancer’s victims and survivors. I went into this film with high hopes and an open mind.

But the troubles began right away.

How dare this movie start out by dissing Say Anything and other teen romances? If it had delivered on its opening statement — “That’s Hollywood sentimentality, but what you’re about to see, oh champions of honesty and authenticity, is the truth” — it might have earned the right to some criticism of pop sentimentality.

But I’ll take Say Anything’s unpretentious romanticism — including the way that it exploits great songs for emotional highs — over one that starts out by dismissing others as sap, then declares that it has some higher claim on truth, and then wallows in even deeper sentimentality and even more severe emotional manipulation, indulging whatever out-of-the-blue plot twists will fling young girls into the most abrupt abysses of emotional breakdowns, and, yes, exploiting great songs.

So no: Stop right there if you’re about to respond by calling me a cynic about romance. Many of my favorite films are romances, and some of them are about young people like Hazel and Augustus. What’s upsetting to me, for starters, is that the film makes promises it doesn’t keep.

Let’s not even talk about how it takes us around the world to the Anne Frank House so that it can exploit that little girl’s bravery as the backdrop for two beautiful teenagers “seize the day” kiss. (As if to celebrate what this movie’s getting away with, its Prince Charming turns and bows to those who came to admire Anne Frank but who are now admiring him.) There are ways to highlight the courage it would take for young people like this to embrace love in the face of challenges, but borrowing gravitas from the courage of those who suffered and died in the Holocaust is inappropriate.

That Woodley invests her character with a great performance only adds to the tragedy here: someone might have cast her in a great film about a young girl’s cancer struggle. She’s effervescent. But then, again, that’s part of the problem: It’s easy to feel good about being drawn into a story of a cancer struggles when the good guys are all beautiful, fashionable, and picture-perfect while the bad guys (there are clear bad guys in this film) are grizzled and ugly.

Any movie that invents the intolerably cocksure Augustus Waters — or Hazel’s parents, for that matter — has to be crazy to raise an eyebrow skeptically at other forms of “wish-fulfillment.” This is the kind of “realism” that likes to set up one-dimensional characters — a girl who breaks up with the nerdy blind boy we like, an acrobatically cynical man who wears white to the funerals of cancer kids — so that we can enjoy egging their houses for emotional catharsis. That’s the kind of “truth” — or, rather, emotional immaturity — that we’re talking about here.

If I were struggling with cancer, I suspect this movie would come across as punch in the gut*: Many would watch it and cry and feel good about how much they’re feeling for these picture-perfect cancer angels, congratulating themselves on appreciating “realism”; and yet they wouldn’t understand anything more about my experience, my disappointments, my struggles, my relationships. And I doubt they’d be any more willing to suffer alongside me through the ugliness that is “real,” the stuff represented here as fashion-plate youngsters holding each other and crying.

In short: This story suggests that you’ll find the meaning of life if you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by people who fulfill all of your ideals and who will do anything for you. I’ve been blessed with a lot of love like that, and I’m grateful. But my experience tells me that meaning comes from overcoming self-centeredness, and learning to give love, even to those who make life miserable for me. This story substitutes a self-centered dream for the truth that sets us free.

•

*Update: Already, people are writing to tell me that young people who have struggled with cancer have embraced this story. That’s fine — far be it from me to tell anybody what can or cannot bring them comfort. But “Other people like it!” is not a counter-argument. People embrace stories that make them feel good all of the time — but that is not a justification of sentimentality or of merely telling people what they want to hear. I love Diet Coke, but doesn’t change the fact that it’s less than nutritious and is likely to do me more harm than good. What’s more: I’m not saying The Fault in Our Stars is devoid of anything meaningful. I just found that it took cheap shortcuts to evoking emotions, and created such an idealistic world that I never found the characters anything close to plausible. You are welcome to sharing your own critical assessment. But hurling personal insults at me only accomplishes two things: 1) It highlights the fact that there is a difference between a critical interpretation and a hasty, emotional reaction; and, 2) It gets you blocked from commenting at my blog in the future.

Blog

Film Reviews

Previous Post

December 12, 2014

Agents of Future Present a Christmas Playlist

Next Post

December 15, 2014 Chris Willman Presents a Christmas Playlist

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Bloggers on "Through a Screen Darkly" Browser Coming Soon Endorsements Fiction Books Film Forum Film Reviews Inspirations Interviews Journal Kindlings Muse Movie buzz Music Reviews Non-Fiction Books radio Reviewers on "Through a Screen Darkly" The Auralia Thread Through a Screen Darkly Through a Screen Darkly - Bonus Materials Top 10 (or 20 or 100) lists Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 July 2003 May 2003 March 2003 September 1999

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the Roman emperor when Jesus was crucified?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tiberius Augustus Caligula Nero