I may or may not have watched The Fault in Our Stars three times this past weekend, but overall, every time I watched it, the film has left me speechless. Based on the novel written by the evil and cruel John Green, here is what I thought of the gut-wrenching love story of the decade.
Let me bring you back to 2012 for a bit. January 10 was the day the novel was published, but I hadn't heard of John's book until later that year. I should really give credit to my AP English teacher for introducing me to the book. You see, I read the novel for an extra credit assignment my junior year when I was threatened to receive a less than acceptable grade in that class. I quickly read the book and soon enough became a huge fan of the novel and the vlogbrothers. Fast-forward about a year and half to the present day, two days before I graduate high school, The Fault in Our Stars finally came out in theaters all across the nation and it could not have had better timing. I really feel like I grew up with the book and better yet, I feel like my friends and I became closer because of the book, and now the movie.
The first time I saw the film was at the 5:20 p.m. showing on opening night. I walked in by myself with a bag of smuggled in buncha crunches in my purse and my ticket and loved every second of the film. There are literally no words to describe how much I loved it. The movie stayed true to the book and was just flawless. Strangely enough, there was a wonderful balance between the humor and its seriousness. However, if you are looking for a happy ending, I'll assure you, there won't be a happily ever after.
It's weird, you sympathize for the characters so much that you think you're living as one of them. Everyone in the audience became emotional at some point. From Hazel's parents' fear for their daughter's life, to the love shared between Hazel and Augustus, to the heartache Hazel had when she lost Gus, I think I can speak for the entire audience when I say we lost ourselves in the characters for those two hours.
And although there were a lot of serious moments, the humor never faded. There was a scene where Hazel, Augustus and Isaac were all in Gus's room and Isaac was angry that his girlfriend broke up with him so Gus decided to give him his basketball trophies to break. I promise that scene was hilarious. Not to mention the egging scene, which may be my favorite. Mostly because Augustus got to say, "We may not look like much, but between the three of us, we have five legs, four eyes and two and a half working pairs of lungs..." Yup, that was an actual line. Clip below:
Aside from all of that, what I loved about this movie is that it didn't sugarcoat anything. It was a love story that showed what a cancer patient really looks like. It showed that there are no limitations for us whatever our circumstances. I also saw John Green as a character of his own. Oddly enough, I see him as the Peter Van Houten of our reality.
I see this movie as a modern classic. And by that I mean, by 2034, this will be the movie that teenagers will call a classic must-see. Much like how we call The Notebook, The Breakfast Club and Clueless legendary movies, The Fault in Our Stars will have its spot along side them soon. I wouldn't be surprised if it lands at No.1 in the box office for the next few weeks because of it.
John Green, Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Josh Boone and the other hundreds people who worked on this movie, thank you. Thank you for the masterpiece we all needed. Oh, and don't forget to be awesome. Okay?