My great niece Chelsea and I went to see "The Fault in our Stars" yesterday afternoon. It was an okay movie but to me a wait till Redbox type. (I'm picky about movies.)
If you are going to see the film thinking it's a cancer movie you'll be disappointed. "The Fault in our Star" only scratches the surface of someone battling cancer. If you go to see it thinking you're going to see a teenage, star crossed lover type movie you'll not be disappointed. You'll love it. (The fault in our stars. Star crossed lovers. Intended correlation? I dunno.)
Reasons not to see "The Fault in our Stars":
- Being surrounding by 100 teenage giggling girls.
- Being surrounding by 100 teenage crying girls.
- If you don't like to cry in public.
- If you wear a lot of makeup. Specifically eye makeup.
- You forget your tissue.
- If you'll feel guilty your don't use your tissue.
- If you don't like to be disappointed.
- If you're looking for a good soundtrack.
- If you're looking for a deep cancer/life motivation type movie.
- If you'll feel guilty you aren't crying as much as you "should".
- If you'll feel guilty for judging those around you who are sobbing uncontrollably.
- Will leave wondering about many things.......for example why the characters went to see the Anne Frank house if it wasn't going to be fleshed out more than Hazel, or Hazel Grace as Augustus liked to call her, struggling up stairs to only be kissed at the top of the stairs.
Reason to see "The Fault in our Stars":
- You want to join 100 teenage girls giggle at times and ball their eyes out at other.
- You're looking for a movie about love. Star crossed love.
- Want to watch a "cute" movie.
- You need a good cry but just don't have anything to cry about right now.
- You like movies that are just deep enough to not make you think, but deep enough to make you feel.
- You think the girl playing Hazel, or Hazel Grace as Augustus insists on calling her, is a great actress and you want to see everything she plays in. (I think she is great! Had another actress played the part I may have not enjoyed the movie.)
- You like to not have all the parts of a character laid out. You like to be the deep thinker and not have a movie lead you quite that far. You want to wonder why Augustus insists on calling Hazel, Hazel Grace. Maybe because she feels she is just a Hazel. She is just Hazel. Maybe Augustus feels she is more than just a Hazel. She is Hazel Grace. I dunno. One of the mysteries of this movie.
The best line in the movie, and having been a cancer patient a very profound line, is at the end of the film. Hazel, Hazel Grace as Augustus insists on calling her, talks about the pain scale. The pain scale asked in emergency rooms and recovery rooms and hospital rooms of those who are experiencing horrible things. Hazel says she would always tell the nurse she had a pain of nine on the scale of 1-10. The reason? She was saving the ten for the time she knew would be the worst she could feel. I loved that. It made me wonder about how I always, always say six. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe I want to be strong or tough or not cause much concern or problem or complain too much. Being one point over the half way mark to ten may be perfect for those reasons? Maybe I'll just never figure that one out.....
Another interesting observation I found was the way the movie ends. The movie ends just like the book that Hazel, or Hazel Grace as Augustus insists on calling her, is obsessed about. The book she has read over and over ends in a sentence. Ends in a way that she does not know what happens to Anna. (I think that was the character of the book's name?) Hazel, or Hazel Grace as Augustus insists on calling her, experiences the end of her story in the exact same way as Anna. And you the audience of the movie as Hazel the reader of the book do not know what happens to the lead character. I'm not sure if the young girls will grapple with that in their mind. Chelsea hadn't noticed when we talked about the movie afterward. She said, "Marna. You just read too much into stuff." Ha. Funny Chels.
I wish the cancer/dying aspects of the film had been flushed out more in the film. The parts of Hazel and her parents fears and thoughts of parting through her future death. Afterlife. Fear of death. Her mom's views on her very own future-which I found very profound but only touched on within a few sentences. But this movie I'm afraid isn't meant to flush those issues. I think it's only meant to be a movie of love and what comes between. And what comes between? Not fighting over money or time or silly things like where to eat dinner. What comes between is life and death. I am glad that cheap grief scenes weren't used to make you cry. The scenes in which people were crying in the theater were very commendable. Chelsea looked at me at one of those points and asked if I were crying. It was one of the few times I let a few tears out or felt like letting a few tears out. She said laughing, "wimp". I replied laughing, "cold hearted".
All in all most who see will like. And I did too. It's what it should be and intended to be. And I'll take the deepest parts with me-the pain scale and the book correlations. And I'll take the biggest thing I learned through cancer. I'm glad I DIDN'T go to that support group........
(Oh, a final note, I'm very glad Jennifer didn't let me take Bella along. I'd have been very uneasy about some of the lines in the movie watching with a 12 year old. A 12 year old that isn't my child. I was nervous about some of it with a 20 year old! Probably because it was my great niece. Family.)
