From John Green, the author of box office juggernaut The Fault In Our Stars, Paper Towns is the second installment of the young adult dramas in the author's utopian universe. This time we don’t get teenage cancer patients and European trips (although the characters embark on a literal and figurative “journey” at the latter part of the film). Safe to say, Paper Towns is no Fault in Our Stars.
The plot is all too common — young boy meets girl and falls in love but the feelings remain unrequited. They grow up and grow apart. Boy is still in love with girl and when he gets the chance, he goes after her. It’s a formula used way too many times. When the lead Quentin Jacobson (Nat Wolff), Q for short, opened up the film by talking about how his childhood friend and unrequited sweetheart, Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne) is his miracle, you already know where this is going. And so one night when Margo breaks in Q’s bedroom and asks him to join her in her revenge plot against her cheating ex-boyfriend, poor smitten boy agrees — and takes his mom’s car.
After spending the night with Q as revenge ninjas, Margo disappears in a PG-13 Gone Girl fashion. Q discovers what seemed like a series of clues from his miracle, telling him to come find her. Being the head over heels guy that he is, he takes his mom’s car (again) and goes on a road trip with his friends Bloody Ben (Austin Abrams), Radar (Justice Smith), Radar’s girlfriend, Angela (Jaz Sinclair) and Margo’s BFF Lacey (Halston Sage).
All the characters are Gary Stus and Mary Sues — way too nice to be real. Yet, despite the clichés and archetypes, the film is not dull. Paper Towns plays it safe but the cast saves it from falling flat. Starting off with Natt Wolff’s earnest performance coupled with Abrams and Smith’s quirky persona, the trio comes off as the funniest band of not so popular high school seniors you’ll ever see on screen. They are in charge of the film’s most charming moments — involving everything from Pokemons, to black Santas and the Confederate flag.
The film’s ending is different from the book. How the (purely one-sided) “love story” of Q and Margo ends in a heartbreaking way feels just right. It’s not the fairytale ending many other trite teenage movies have and that is refreshing, to say the least.
For her lead character debut, Cara Delevingne was not as captivating as she is in the runway. Her acting is endearing at most and above what is expected of a supermodel turned actress. The Brit stunner looks a little too old for high school and quite not convincing as an American teenager. However, her undeniably shaky American accent is no deal-breaker.
Paper Towns as a coming of age film may not offer its viewers something new plot-wise, yet it banks on the pleasant mix of fresh faces, tender sexuality and true coming of age experiences. It might be clichéd but that’s what makes it relatable. We were once the troubled, sexually curious, confused teenagers like the characters.
The movie is neither deep nor moving but it is well-acted and witty. It’s the kind of movie that strongly appeals to its target audience in a cookie-cutter way.
