"The Fault In Our Stars"

Right from the start, you get the message. This is going to be no sickly sweet young teen romance story, nor will it end happily, but what is clear is that this is a well made movie, and it is evident why it has taken the box office by storm.

Hazel is a young girl dealing with cancer. In order for her to get out of the house, and also to try and express what she is feeling, she goes to a Cancer support group, more to apease her parents than anything. The head of the group is a God loving nut, and she clearly finds it tiresome attending. But there could be some entertainment from winding up one of the newest members, Gus, who has come partly for himself, as he too has cancer, but mainly he is accompanying his partially sighted friend Issac.
Hazel finds Gus to be very cocky, and she takes pleasure in having fun with a battle of words with him. But soon a friendship does develope. They find out more about each other, discovering each others likes, trading books. Which leads Hazel to lend Gus a book which she regards as her bible. He too finds the book a revelation.
She has tried on numerous occasions to contact the author, but with no joy. Gus however proves to be more successful, and they decide to have a trip to Amsterdam, to meet the author.  The trip does not go to plan. Prior to the trip, Gus had always been more infatuated with Hazel, than Hazel with Gus, she being happy to just stay as friends. But the short break changes that, and their love for each other starts to blossom.
But a secret is told, and we discover that one of the two teens is more seriously ill than we imagine, and the inevitable starts to unfold.

I am sure there are so few people in this World who have not been affected by cancer, whether it be themselves or a family member. So certainly there will be many who have something to relate to with this film.
Director Josh Boone does a great job, admirable considering he is a relative newcomer, making the film engaging without being too sombre or too over sentimental. There are some good performances in the film from seasoned veterans like Laura Dern, as Hazel's mother, and Willem Dafoe as the author that Hazel and Gus seek out.
But top marks to both Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, playing Hazel and Gus. They really convey a sense of friendship, love and loss with great performances. A very minor quibble would be that maybe they are a few years too old for their roles, but that aside it leaves little wonder why it has been so successful, and fair play to a film on such a small $12 million budget that can do te business that this movie has been doing.

Have the tissues at the ready.....8 out of 10