Grade: B-
In the opening narration of The Fault in Our Stars (which will jerk more tears than any movie this summer, if not this year), we are promised that this will not be your typical sugarcoated teenager movie. It doesn’t completely deliver. Dark moments that could have been unflinchingly maximized are instead made “safe” by the use of slow-mo and saccharine music, most of the performances are very actory and surfaced (especially the performance from the boyfriend – one of the characters we should care about the most), and the post-love-scene nudity is your systematic and carefully choreographed PG-13 pose, where legs, feet, hands, and faces are at their most picturesque, and the key parts of their anatomy that participated in the deed are conveniently and just-barely covered up. A few character motivations are questionable [What teenagers would be allowed to have unlimited bottles of champagne at an unsupervised fancy dinner in a foreign country, followed by free reign alone in a hotel room?]. Most of the faces in this film were not familiar to me. 3 performances stood out: the always reliable Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe (although his actions toward the end flew in the face of all logic for his character, he presented himself convincingly throughout), and the young actress Shailene Woodley gave me a heroine I could really get behind. I can’t wait to see the career she has ahead of her. When all is said and done, TFIOS is effectively made, and I admit there is something here. I just think it should have gone deeper.
Grade: B-
Film Reviews by Mark 
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