The Fault in Our Stars Review

Grade: B+
One-Liner: Damn you, Augustus Waters, look what you did to my mascara!

There comes a point in every jaded film critic's life when he or she knows what they are getting themselves into. It's the reason I refuse to watch tearjerkers like P.S. I Love You, and why I loathed Terms of Endearment. Some movies are simply created to make the audience weep endless, snot-filled tears.

You don't have to explain the appeal to me, I grew up in the Nicholas Sparks generation, and you can bet your ass I was blubbering like a baby in The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and, yes, even The Last Song. That doesn't mean those stories were necessarily beneficial to society or culture. The Fault in Our Stars, it could be argued, is a new level of Nicholas Sparks for a wiser, slightly more sophisticated generation of teens longing for unconventional love stories.

While I'm not a member of the FIOS' faithful bandwagon and actually took a more pessimistic approach to the novel's mass appeal, I put aside my cynical attitude to see this film in its purest form. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I cried, and I'd also be lying if I said it was for less than 30 minutes. Author John Green created two leading characters so vivid and realistic that it made it hard not to fall in love alongside them.

Those characters were effortlessly transitioned to the screen thanks to Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort's adept portrayal. Woodley gave spunky heroine Hazel Grace the right amount of sass and spirit, and Elgort oozed charm as the cocky Augustus Waters in the least sleazy way possible. Though the ending is predictable from the start, that doesn't make the journey any less bittersweet. The chemistry is palpable and the heartbreak sincere, making for a truly unique love story.

Relative newcomer Elgort stole the show, flashing a broad grin and a trembling lip in all the right moments. After starting his career with this film and his role in the Divergent series, it's likely he's the latest stud on the rise. Woodley also stepped out of her root-growing, herbalistic comfort zone to play a character cloaked in realism and opposed to all things sappy, sentimental, or optimistic.

It made for a moving film ... and for very cheap makeup remover.