This Hollywood adaptation of a New York Times bestseller by cult Youtube blogger John Greene had big shoes to fill. Fanatics and loyalists aside, terminally ill teen Hazel (Woodley) and her even-more-adorable love interest Augustus (Elgort) mostly cut through the saccharine, wise-beyond-their-years-kids-with-cancer clichés with thoughtful turmoil that sees them cross the Atlantic to meet Peter van Houten (Dafoe), a caustic, alcoholic novelist holed up in Amsterdam. Go have a big, if embarrassing, life-affirming cry at the movies.
The Fault In Our Stars | Directed Josh Boone (USA, The Netherlands 2013) with Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Willem Dafoe, Lara Dern. Starts June 12
Originally published in issue #128, June 2014