Paper Towns

Starring: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevigne, Austin Abrams, Justice Smith
Directed By: Jake Schreier
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi

[Rating: 3/5]

‘Tween’ movies over the last couple of years have been following a bit of a trend. Mostly it seems to be focused on an ‘ordinary’ yet ‘special snowflake’ blank slate of a girl as she is whipped into some kind of Supernatural world full of dangerous yet thrilling romance. With the success of last year’s Fault in our Stars, however, it looks like the traditional tween coming of age stories we fondly grew up with in the 90s and early 00s might be making resurgence. Author John Green’s novels seem to be the main source material being explored, but if films like Paper Towns continue to be successful this might open the door for movies where you can relate to real teenagers instead of creepy stalker vampires. So, does this latest adaptation have what it takes to turn the ‘Tween’ genre back into ‘Young Adult’?

Quentin (Nat Wolff) and Margo (Cara Delevigne) used to be best childhood friends. She used to come in through his window and whisk him off on adventures; even as kids she had an air of mystery about her. Then, over time, Margo drifted away from Quentin and got her own group of popular friends while still managing to be one of the most mysterious people their high school had ever seen. Close to graduation, on the cusp of adulthood, Margo reappears in Quentin’s life and invites him on one final adventure, to take vengeance against her cheating boyfriend and her back-stabbing friends. After having the best night of his life, Quentin’s love for Margo is reunited as she disappears from school and home, leaving only a number of cryptic clues behind her. Obsessed with finding the love of his life, Quentin gathers a rag-tag group of friends together to help him follow her trail and tell her how he really feels.

There is one main problem that I have with these John Green films so far. They have no conflict. There’s a story engine, don’t get me wrong, each character has an arc and motivation and a mostly interesting story to tell, but beyond that there isn’t all that much. The plots are generally rather thin, if at all existent, and there is never any form of external conflict. It’s all well and good to have internal conflict be your main adversary, but once in a while it’d be nice to give your protagonist an obstacle or two. This said, the stories are still quite delightful. There is a raw innocence found in Paper Towns, helped on by a talented cast that actually look and act like real teenagers, an innocent freshness not often found in films targeted towards the young adult audiences.

While the cast is delightful, namely the side friend characters Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith), and the pure essence of a well told coming of age story is definitely in place, there is still something a little off about Paper Towns. The film goes out of its way to try and flip the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ trope on its head and I’m not entirely sure it succeeds. For those who aren’t complete film nerds, the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ is a trope for female characters who are mysterious, quirky and fun but only exist in the story to teach the main male protagonist a lesson. They have no real drive of their own and no true story to be told. Paper Towns goes out of its way to chastise the main character for possibly thinking that this mysterious, quirky and fun girl could possibly only think about his love for her and doesn’t have a life of her own to live. The thing is, this life is never shown and is barely hinted at. While the film states that she is more than this trope all we ever see of the character is this trope. All she really exists for in the story is to teach the main character a lesson about ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girls’ (and some other important life lessons), which in essence turns her into a self-fulfilling Manic Pixie prophecy.

Paper Towns has a distinct lack of conflict and falls short of successfully deconstructing a trope of this genre, but it still manages to be a sweet, heart-felt and enjoyable little film. If these kinds of films are what we have in store for us instead of the usual Supernatural Romance schlock, I say bring on the ‘Young Adults’!