PAPER TOWNS
DIRECTOR: Jake Schreier
CAST: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Austin Abrams, Justice Smith and Halston Sage
CLASSIFICATION: PG 13
RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes
RATING: **
There is nothing that will prepare you for how Paper Towns flows as a story. When it starts, we meet two kids who have a strong friendship and we assume it’s a romantic film. Then there are funny bits so you could then classify it as a comedy or a romantic comedy. But as the story progresses, you keep guessing what’s going to happen next and are tempted to call it a mystery.
This is not to say that there was anything wrong with all these ingredients. It’s just that Paper Towns is probably for the young or young at heart.
The story centres on Quentin Jacobsen (Wolff) who’s been in love with his neighbour Margo (Delevingne) since she moved in when they were just kids. They are now teens and Margo has become a rebel and hangs out with a peculiar group, sidelining Quentin in the process. However, that has no effect on how he feels about her.
A chance adventure, reminiscent of their childhood, avails itself and Quentin finds himself on a prank mission with the girl of his dreams. The dream “date”, however, is cut short when Margo turns up missing and soon it becomes apparent that Quentin was the last person to see her alive. Of interest is that he is never a suspect because her parents did say that she did run away every now and then.
In an interesting twist of events, Quentin thinks he has to find Margo thanks to what he thinks are clues she left for him. The bulk of the movie has the viewer, along with Quentin, trying to figure out where Margo is. There is a bit of an upsetting ending, but we will leave that for you to find out.
The film is very much for the teen Twilight kind of market and best watched on a slow movie day. More pace in the storytelling could have helped to keep the viewer awake. Also, if you are going to push a love story, make sure the ending is epic, because that’s what moviegoers like. If you want “real life” endings, then don’t make these kind of movies, especially for teens.
There are great comedy bits from Abrams and Smith but overall it is simply forgettable.
If you liked The Fault in the Stars, Trainwreck and Southpaw, you might enjoy this.