In terms of narrative and character, it barely takes a false step.” -Scott Mendelson, Forbes It gets so many emotional details just right that those are genuine nitpicks. I could note that a mid-film trip to a certain tourist destination doesn’t work, but that’s five minutes in a two-hour picture. “I could make a note of how Gus seems to be an almost supernaturally perfect boyfriend (he’s almost a Manic Pixie Dream Guy), or everyone looks really pretty even when being ravaged by disease.
Contrarily, if you find yourself resisting the premise and intention of that scene and its D-Day assault on your tear ducts, well, Shailene Woodley nearly makes up for it.” -Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune If that scene works for you, and on you, then by your lights The Fault in Our Stars will qualify as a successful film adaptation. They kiss - it’s their first biggie - and the onlookers break into applause. There, surrounded by fellow tourists and visitors, the museum exhibit’s audio recordings of Frank’s diary fill the air, underscoring to Hazel and Gus the importance of cherishing every moment.
Gamely lugging her oxygen tank up a series of narrow stairways, stage 4 lung cancer survivor Hazel makes it to the attic, with the aid of Gus, who has a partially prosthetic leg owing to bone cancer. The kids decide to shake it off and tour the nearby Anne Frank museum. Their literary idol turns out to be a cynical, drunken lout. To paraphrase Hazel’s maxim on infinities: some atrocities are bigger than other atrocities.” -Richard Corliss, Time The trip also affords the filmmakers an egregious scene in the Anne Frank House, where a Jewish girl’s descent into the Holocaust is straight-facedly compared to a teen’s cancer. A meeting in New Amsterdam with Hazel’s favorite author (Willem Dafoe) seems a bilious detour with an improbable payoff. The teens, reflecting on a lesson we should all learn (no author can live up to what he is on the page), have their first kiss at … the Anne Frank House. “That Dutch-American author, played by Willem Dafoe as a surly crank in pajamas who has scotch for breakfast, steers the movie in a more mature direction: He compares the couple’s childish belief that the characters in his book continued existing after the final page to the equally absurd belief in life after death. At that moment, The Fault in Our Stars is less about young love than about the heroic moral search for meaning in suffering.” -Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post “A visit to Anne Frank’s house at first seems to strike an unnecessarily maudlin and strident tone, but director Josh Boone builds it into something powerful and profound, as Hazel breathlessly climbs the tiny staircases to Frank’s cramped quarters. However, a scene in which they kiss in the Anne Frank House, inspiring strangers to applaud, stands out for its artificiality (to be fair, it’s also in the book).” -Claudia Puig, USA Today Their encounter with Van Houten is strange, but intriguing. Gus cashes in a gift and arranges for the two of them to go to Amsterdam to meet the mysterious author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe). “Hazel shares her favorite book with Gus and they lament its abrupt ending, longing to know what happened after the last page. The film may get away with using cancer to tug the heartstrings, but combining cancer and the Holocaust is at least one trigger too many.” -Andrew Barker, Variety It’s also the only section where the film tips fully over into uncomfortable kitsch, as the couple experiences a romantic breakthrough during a visit to Anne Frank’s attic, while voiceovers recite passages from The Diary of a Young Girl.
“It’s in Amsterdam that the film opens up visually - ditching the closeups and domestic interior scenes to take in the well-photographed surroundings - and Hazel and Augustus forge their most affecting connections. A few think it’s gorgeous, most think it’s too literal, and everyone feels the need to mention it, because … making out at the Anne Frank House? Really? As predicted, the scene that has divided most reviewers is Hazel and Gus’s kissy visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Today’s the day: It’s time to get your cry on while watching The Fault in Our Stars. Photo: James Bridges/Twentieth Century Fox