By Juliana McLeod, editorial editor

Not many films can bring together two teenagers, beleaguered by cancer, to create a humorous love story. Yes, in a film complete with a boy going blind and frequent trips to the hospital, there is humor and moments when the audience cannot help but laugh. These moments are exactly what the audience needs, as the course of the film transforms giggles into tears, and smiles into sobs.

Based off the book by John Green, “The Fault in our Stars” tells the story of two teenagers, Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus (Ansel Elgort), who find companionship in each other’s eccentric senses of humor, love for books and, most prevalently, struggles with cancer. Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group, though we quickly find out that Gus is cancer-free, and simply attending the meeting to support his friend, Isaac (Nat Wolff).

Together, Hazel and Gus appear a quirky duo, as Hazel tugs around a portable oxygen tank while Gus limps due to his makeshift leg after his real one was amputated. But in reality, the duo makes the hearts of the audience melt. There is no immediate love affair, just a friendship in which we discover Hazel’s cynical outlook on life, which is counteracted by Gus’ optimistic outlook and determination to be a hero in history.

We slowly fall in love with Augustus as he looks past the oxygen tank of Hazel Grace, his indefinite nickname for his new friend, and toward her passions, such as her favorite author, Peter van Houten (Willem Dafoe).

Yet even more striking is the difference between the book and the film. Thankfully, the film made sure to keep all of the necessary quotes, in which John Green truly captures the essence of being a teenager, being in love and being sick, all at once, like, “I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, and then all at once.”

When beginning the book, the reader does not know what to feel, only to continue reading. Before long, the reader feels despair and sadness, temporarily overpowered by the friendship that becomes love. But by the end, the despair and sadness have won. In the film, the audience walks into the theater anticipating this despair and sadness, the ingredients to a film about young adults with cancer. But when you find yourself laughing, the film becomes incredible.

At the start of the movie, we’re introduced to the cancer support group leader whose obsession with Jesus is laughable both to the audience and to the support group members. Wedged in the basement of a church, the leader tells the support group that they are in the “literal heart of Jesus,” a phrase that pops its way into several other scenes in the film, quickly followed by the audience’s laughter. Small bits of humor like this surround the movie in a glow that makes the heartbreaking story a bit more bearable.

This film manages to capture so many aspects of just one story. We understand that Hazel is a teenage girl and enjoys watching endless reality TV shows. We understand that her body is not healthy as she struggles for breath while her Dad runs her limp body into the hospital in the middle of the night. And we understand that she is in love, as she thanks Gus for the small infinity that he gave her.

In the end, we fell in love with this movie just as Hazel fell for Augustus. Slowly, and then all at once.

Photo courtesy Global Panorama, Creative Commons.