TFiOS Review (Spoilers - Read The Book!)

I read The Fault in Our Stars two years ago, shortly after it came out. I knew nothing of what it would become; it was just one of countless YA books I've read. It was good, but not the best. Really, it wasn't even my favorite John Green book, that was Looking for Alaska, followed by Paper Towns. 

I've read all of John's books; I watch a lot of his and Hank's Youtube videos; I am a Nerdfighter. I found out TFiOS was going to be a movie about a year or so, when all the other Nerdfighters did. I was excited, but worried that, like so many book adaptations, it would be disappointing. 

I followed along with John on Twitter, and knew, given the amount of input her put into it, that it would be good. So, when I heard about The Night Before Our Stars, an event the night before the official release (last night) that would include a telecast Q&A with John, and the stars, and other people (the director and producer), I bought tickets for the nearest theater immediately. About a week later, I found out that the theater that they would be at would be the the theater I got tickets at. I was so excited! John, and everybody else, LIVE and IN-PERSON! The event was great, honestly one of the best nights of my life.

Famous people LIVE and IN-PERSON!
from the left: John Green, Josh Boone, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Wyck Godfrey, and Alton Brown
Photo Courtesy of TFiOS Movie Twitter Page

The official movie poster, courtesy of Google Images.

The movie was fantastic. I haven't cried in years, I've never cried during a movie, and I didn't cry reading the book, but I was tearing up a little toward the end. 
Part of the reason why I like the story is the same reason a lot of people like a lot of stories: it's relatable. I see a lot of myself in Hazel. No, I don't have cancer, and no I don't know what it's like to fall in love, but I am a 17 year old girl who knows what it's like to feel hopeless. At the beginning of the movie, Hazel is basically just sitting around waiting to die. Hazel's right, one day we'll all be dead and no one will remember Cleopatra or Mozart, much less us. But you can still live a full and happy life. One of the things John said last night was that part of the reason he wrote the book was to show that even a life cut way to short can be full and happy, and he reminded us all that death is simply part of life. I see myself in the sarcastic, cynical teenager who doesn't care what she looks like and spends most of her time with her family, and who knows that oblivion is inevitable. 
Of course, not everything about the movie was perfect, and I realize that it never can be. One of my biggest complaints was that you really didn't see the friendship between Hazel and Isaac. Many fan stories show the two becoming a couple, but if you had just seen the movie you would have no idea why. Isaac's character is not as well developed as it is in the book. The import scenes (Monica breaking up with him and him breaking the trophies, egging her house) are there, but they don't fit as well as they do in the book. 
Shailene Woodley (Hazel) did a phenomenal job. I have to admit, when they first cast her I had my doubts, but she made the perfect Hazel. Her voice was Hazel's voice, her smile was Hazel's smile, and her tears were Hazel's, too. Ansel Elgort (Gus) and Nat Wolff (Issac) were very good too, but they paled in comparison to Shailene. Laura Dern (Hazel's mom) was also excellent, however I was not impressed by Sam Trammell's (Hazel's dad) performance. His role was also made smaller than it was in the book. William Dafoe (Van Houten) was good, but his character was a lot more sympathetic than it was in the book. 
In the end, I'm left with questions similar to Hazel's. What becomes of Hazel after Gus dies? Does she sink back into her depression? How much longer does she live? What about her parents after she dies? Does her mother become a social worker? Also, what happened to Sisyphus the hamster? (Ok that last one was a bit of an inside joke from the screening)
Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

Also one kind of random thing I would like to share: the press is reporting that Shailene cried during the Atlanta screening of the movie; while she did cry during the Q&A, she was not actually there for the movie. They were in and out pretty quick.

For more TFiOS, see my Pinterest board.