The book, however, is a nuanced piece and the lead teenagers are sensitive and meditative people; for example, the boy, Augustus (played with gusto by rubber-faced Ansel Elgort), constantly has an unlit cigarette drooping from his lips as a metaphor (“You put the thing that does the killing right between your teeth but you never give it the power to kill you”) and he supposedly fears oblivion. On screen it comes off as, perhaps, a little pretentious but director Josh Boone and (500) Days of Summer writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber keep with the original text strictly, never straying far from Green’s vision. While The Fault In Our Stars gives our young lovers plenty of light and shade, their devoted families are put to the side to concentrate on Hazel and Augustus’ romance. Mr and Mrs Lancaster get more to do than the taciturn Waters parents (David Whalen and Milica Govich) and in the film’s third act the screenwriters finally bring the family pledged to assist Hazel into the limelight, showing how their lives are affected by her condition. Laura Dern has the real heft as Hazel’s scatty mother but like much of the cast excluding the lead two I came away wanting more from her. True Blood’s Sam Trammell – sporting a bristly beard similar to Austria’s Conchita Wurst’s – acts gamely as Mr Lancaster and in one fleeting scene he attempts to explain to Augustus the perils of the couple’s relationship but their conversation is interrupted and never touched on again. Furthermore, Hazel and Augustus make little contact with other young people bar Isaac, an attendee of the cancer help group who is losing the sight in his one remaining eye, played by Nat Wolff. He too isn’t given much special to do. Acting heavyweight Willem Dafoe has an excellent couple of scenes but he is despatched as quickly as he came. Once you push past the affected exterior (this includes lines that are destined for Tumblr: “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once”) and let your ears adjust to the weighty badinage between Augustus and Hazel, there’s a surprisingly good story to be found. The Fault In Our Stars eschews trite and maudlin drama (though that’s not to say there aren’t a few slushy scenes) for raw and pensive drama. Readers of the book will be rewarded with a faithful adaption and the uninitiated will be treated with powerhouse performances by Woodley and Elgort – and a genuinely half-decent teen drama. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
