10 Reasons The Fault In Our Stars Is The Best Book-Film Adaptation In Years

6. Perfect Tonal Judgement

One of the most remarkable things about The Fault In Our Stars in novel form is how adept John Green is at managing the constantly shifting tonal landscape of the story. It can make you crease up with laughter one moment, but then have you covered in tears a few paragraphs later. Thankfully, the film is equally capable of marshalling these shifts in tone. Film crowds are less forgiving of darkness than literary audiences, but director Josh Boone and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber keep the film frothy and light when it needs to be. The sadder moments come thick and fast during the film's blistering third act, but regular bursts of humour and wit ensure that the film ends with a smile rather than a sob. This is one of the real achievements of a film that was always going to struggle to attain the adoration its source received. Boone has pulled off a real stunner here, with solid tonal control at the heart of it all.