Most of the characters in the movie are grappling with cancer and looming death. Yet the movie is not dark, heavy and drab but light, effervescent and fun. The movie is based on a book which again references a book and its fictitious writer.

“The Fault in Our Stars,” is lead by two teenage characters of opposite sex, in which, one is morose and the other is peppy in a part of the story and thereafter their role reverses. Also they have a goal. They have to travel from US to Amsterdam to meet an author who wrote an optimistic book on cancer. This pilgrimage has its surprises and its consequences.

Shailene Woodley has an endearing looks and acting talent who pulls the viewer in for a rollercoaster ride of emotions. But the emotions are adjusted in appropriate measure. It’s a toned down melodrama and the conversations are mainly forward looking though they can’t avoid morbid talks at some juncture.

The story has depressing undertones yet one comes out of it not down but level. You’ll know why after you watch it.

A middle aged couple with two teenage boys are on a ski-holiday when a controlled avalanche misdirects into a open air cafe where the family is brunching. Upon approach of the rubble, the husband runs away abandoning his wife and two children. The avalanche rattles the cafe-people but is innocuous. Everything goes back to normal. Except the relationship between the husband and his wife and two children.

The rest of the movie then moves into subtler aspects of relationships. The wife and two children see their husband and father as someone weak. Obviously, the husband tries to justify himself by lying and undermining his wife. But in the end there is redemption arranged by the wife for the father,only.

This 1 hour 26 minutes movie is not that bad to deserve a rating of low 50%. The movie is pretty well made and well performed. Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld fame who is a multi award winning actress is cast just for the right reasons.

When a tenuous bond of trust breaks between individuals, the resulting emotions are the most hardest to portray on screen. It’s here one get to know the difference between a pro and a tyro.