I’m going to be very clear here: for all you teens, old teens, wannabe teens – very few real American teenagers have enviable lives. Most of that “cool, carefree American teen” crap is pure fiction. That’s actually why John Green exists – to demonstrate that within the endless suck, there is a chance for a smile. While one should take from Paper Towns the fact that myriad possibilities exist in a teen’s future, one should also understand that most teens who discover such only get there after also discovering that life bites.
Band geek Quentin (Nat Wolff) is the kind of boy nobody envies. If teen life is rough on all kids, it is especially rough on boys desperately salting away their days until college, those timid once-too-often-shot-down geeks who have given up hoping for a girlfriend and treat the prom as a denier treats climate change. He does have friends, a lesser nerd, Ben (Austin Abrams), and a nerd-of-color, Radar (Justice Smith), who is best distinguished by his parents’ desire to collect a world’s record amount of Black Santa memorabilia. That last part? Was hilarious every.single.time.
One night, the girl of infinite clichés (girl next door, bold-n-brash girl, girl our hero has been in love with forever, rebel girl, popular-but-secretly nerdy girl, etc. Take your pick), Margo (Cara Delevingne) sneaks into Q’s window with an offer – if he abets, he gets to participate in the greatest night of his life. There probably won’t be sex and there might be police involved, but the hijinks will still be the highlight of his young life, no doubt.
When you’re young and single and a pretty girl climbs into your room, I don’t think she even has to ask.
Here, I’ve imagined the real life conversation:
(Teen Everyboy is sleeping. Hotgirl comes through the window, waking him up.)
Teen Everyboy (groggy): Huh? Wha?
Hotgirl: Would you –
Teen Everyboy: YES!
Hotgirl: I didn’t ev-
Teen Everyboy: YES! YES!
Hotgirl: Um … ok, then let’s —
Teen Everyboy: YES! (Jumps out of bed, heads for window)
Hotgirl: You might need cloth—
Teen Everyboy: YES! (Throws on a shirt. Grabs a pair of pants. Leaps out the window ahead of Hotgirl, breaking two bones on the pavement below, but still excited and good-to-go)
Hotgirl: Right. Well. Guess we’re off then. (Heads out window behind boy)
And somewhere in between the naked cheating boyfriend and the chariot becoming a pumpkin, Hot Margo becomes Quixotic Margo, calling Orlando a paper town with paper people. Paper Towns refers to a non-existent settlement on a map, btw — a stratagem employed by cartographers to copyright their work. I can’t begin to unravel the metaphor, but I think it’s a wonderful title for a book, movie, play, ball team, pretty-much anything.
Anyway, like the
sucker with his first freebie of meth, Q is hooked forever and when Margo disappears, well, he has to find her, and, sure, bring his friends. Why not? Your life is gonna have some bumps kid, but I love the quest. “Where are their parents?” you ask. Yes, I did, too. Like most teen films, you just have to accept that they exist and appear when necessary and never at any other time – not entirely opposite from real life, but close.
Paper Towns has a lovely secondary cast; the teens (aside from Margo) actually feel like teens, which can be a problem in high school films. I also loved that this film was set in Orlando and never once, if I’m not much mistaken, mentions the “D” word. Yes, other things go on here, too. We’re not quite sure what they are. Just, other things.
Now go fold me another village.
Grab those shorts and maybe that sweater
She’ll take you precisely to bliss, if you’ll let her
One night of trouble
Be back on the double
Careful, kid, it doesn’t get better
Rated PG-13, 109 Minutes
D: Jake Schreier
W: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Genre: Inspired teen angst
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The “first roadtrip” club
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Their parents
