The Fault In Our Stars (Film)

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 6:09am

Saw this yesterday and loved it. The trailer looked like it captured the tone of the book well, but you can never tell with these adaptations until you actually see the whole film. My friend and I agreed that it was one of the best film adaptations of a book we had seen in ages.

Shailene Woodley gave such a performance, without a single false or forced note to be found. She was everything I could have wanted from that character, and I hope her agent got her some amazing cut of the grosses in her contract because the success of the film lies heavily with her.

The rest of the cast is great too, especially Laura Dern.


SPOILERS*********************************

I started crying when Dern was in her bath towel and told Woodley they were going to Amsterdam. Once the floodgates opened I was a mess the rest of the movie, and I knew what was going to happen!!

My favorite scene may have been the egg scene with Isaac. I loved that part of the book, and it was even better in the film.

I was fine with everything they cut, except I would have liked to see the stuff with the blind video game playing. It was interesting, funny and sad, but maybe they just couldn't find the right tone for it on film.

END SPOILERS*****************************************

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 11:03am

I haven't read the book, but the trailer grabbed me. Saw it yesterday, too, and wept through most of it. Laura Dern is indeed wonderful. As is Woodley. She's quite an actress now - imagine how good she'll be in ten years? In twenty? Wow.

SPOILER ALERT

Finding out that HE was now terminal really packed a big punch for me.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 11:05am

Also: was thrilled to see 30 or 40 middle and high school aged students at the movies yesterday. Not one cell phone came out, not one peep from the crowd. Just lots of sniffling. And before, they were all talking about their favorite parts of the book. Boys, girls of every background.

Any book that can get kids that excited and passionate about reading? Amen. The ridiculous Slate article suggesting that adults should be ashamed to read books like THE FAULT IN OUR STARS really pissed me off. And getting to the theatre to see all these kids so passionate about books they love really made my day.

In case you haven't seen the absurd article, here it is: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.html

[StockardFan]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 12:33pm

I'm on the waiting list for the book at the library. I sort of don't want to see the movie until I've read it.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 1:05pm

I thought the book was great and well-written, plus it only took about three days of subway reading to get through!

I think you should read the book first, as the movie follows it closely and it will only help fill in some of the details the movie leaves out.

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 1:49pm

We saw it yeterday too. I loved the movie. My only complaint was it was kind of strange that she didn't have a single friend before the movie started. It was like she had never had a social interaction before. I thought that was strange, coming from a YA book (though, if I remmeber from the book, she did have a couple of friends before who were awkward around her because of the cancer). I thought a line or two of dialogue or voiceover explaining that would have helped. Otherwise, it was definitely one of the closest book to movie transfers I've seen.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 6/8/14 at 2:19pm

Yeah, in the book she does have a once best friend who she has drifted away from after she was pulled out of school. She mentions that it was just too difficult to keep up her friendships as they all progressed with normal high school life.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 6/11/14 at 8:31pm

Just got the book from the e-library.

[Platypus]

Posted: 6/11/14 at 9:46pm

Loved the book. I read it all in about a 9-hour period. I loved the witty, sarcastic dialogue and how it provided a bit of a different perspective on death. Despite the very heavy subject matter, I found myself repeatedly laughing out loud while reading it.

Whizzer, how did you manage to read it in public? I was a mess while reading it. For the first half, I was randomly bursting out laughing, for the second half I was crying like a baby! I am happy that I chose to read it in the privacy of my own home.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 6/11/14 at 10:15pm

I have another book by the same author that wrote The Husband's Secret (did I say that already?) that I have to read first. Then it's The Fault In Our Stars.