Paper Towns Manic Pixie Dream Girl No More

If you’ve seen the trailer for Paper Towns, you no doubt are going to think it looks like another generic teen romance movie in which an unpopular high school boy falls in love with the popular girl – only in this case, the girl goes missing and the boy has to track her down in order to, I don’t know, “rescue” her or something. Thankfully, the marketing department has once again let us down, because Paper Towns actually avoids many of the genre’s clichés, has a decent amount of depth, and contains more than a few laughs. The story begins in a way that seems less than original. “Q” (Nat Wolff) has lived across the street from Margo (Cara Delevingne) since he was a young child. They used to be good friends, but drifted apart as they grew older; they haven’t even had a meaningful conversation in years. She became popular – although enigmatic – while he became a band nerd. One night, though, Margo climbs through his window and asks for his help to enact revenge on her cheating boyfriend and the friends who knew about it. The next day, Margo disappears. Q believes it’s his destiny to find out where she went, and spends the rest of the movie looking for her, sometimes joined by his friends, Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith), one of Margo’s friends, Lacey (Halston Sage), and Radar’s girlfriend, Angela (Jaz Sinclair). Nat Wolff – who had a supporting role in Fault, interestingly enough – is a rising star who brings charisma, hope, and a touch of naivety to the role. The chemistry he has with his co-stars is fantastic. Cara Delevingne, absent from much of the film’s second act, is certainly an interesting actor. We saw her earlier this year in The Face of an Angel, and while she doesn’t appear to be a great actor, she’s got such an undeniable screen presence that you hope her character will be found just so you can watch her work. We root alongside Q not just because we hope the characters will find each other and fall in love, but because we hope Delevingne will show up to spout some “inspirational” dialogue at the other characters. Paper Towns does occasionally fall victim to the clichés it so readily tries to avoid, but for the most part it’s a funny, emotionally earnest movie that tries to pick apart the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character type, all while providing us with interesting characters, a fast-paced plot, and a thoughtful screenplay. It works far more often than it doesn’t, and for the majority of its running time it’s well worth the watch. Bottom Line: Paper Towns is another successful John Green adaptation – although it’s a very different film from the last one. Recommendation: If you want a smarter, more earnest teen movie, Paper Towns is one to watch. [rating=3.5]