Film Of The Week

There’s no doubt that the intended audience for Paper Towns is the same as the sizable one that flocked to The Fault in Our Stars. Both based on teen-focused novels by John Green, they feature lead teenage characters in stories that ring true and touch at the heartstrings. Paper Towns isn’t a tearjerker like its predecessor (no-one here has cancer) — instead it’s more about the conventional teen angst that afflicts most kids in the demographic.

The three characters on screen most of the time are all high-achieving nerds in their final year of high school, and it’s precisely because they’re such big dags that they’re really appealing and occasionally pretty funny. There’s Quentin or Q (Nat Wolff) who wants to be a doctor, Ben (Austin Abrams) who’s hot for beautiful girl, Lacey (Halston Sage), but who doesn’t have the guts to ask her to prom, and low-key Radar (Justice Smith) who’s got a nice girlfriend, Angela (Jaz Sinclair), but is scared of her.

Then there’s the too-cool-for-school Margo – British model Carla Delevingne giving a convincing performance along with American accent. She and Q have known each other since childhood and he’s madly in love with her but unfortunately she doesn’t seem to notice him. But then one night she turns up in his room and takes him on a daring revenge escapade on her cheating boyfriend. Q is smitten hard. Maybe there’s a chance for him with Margo?

But next day Margo disappears, and unfortunately Delevingne disappears from the movie for awhile which will no doubt disappoint viewers. Q is convinced she’s left him clues as to her whereabouts and takes his mother’s car with Ben, Radar, Lacey and Angela on what is essentially a coming-of-age road trip movie. 

Never mind that these high school kids can just pick up and leave on a 26-hour drive across the country days before their prom and no-one seems to raise an eyebrow – slight credibility issue there. But you forgive the story for some of its indulgences because it’s an enjoyable ride along the way, with director Jake Schreier (Robot and Frank) giving proceedings a Cameron Crowe flavour. You’ll even find out just what a paper town is.

By Vicki Englund