Paper Towns bestselling author John Greens second novel

Get Lost. Get Found, the tagline for one of the newest coming-of-age movies, Paper Towns. This is bestselling author John Greens second novel to hit the big screen, after the enormous success of The Fault in our Stars two years ago, grossing more than $307 million worldwide. Paper Towns is definitely not tear-inducing like The Fault in our Stars, but a great, heartwarming film nonetheless. Based around mystery, romance, drama, and a little bit of comedy, Paper Towns is an affecting movie that will not only appeal to teens, but to older generations as well.

Produced by 20th Century Fox, with a budget of $12,000,000, I feel this movie is another home run for them. Jake Schreier, the director, did a fantastic job with the cinematography for Paper Towns and has kept many aspects of young adult life throughout the film. There is at least one thing that happened during the 109 minutes that people can relate to, whether it is house parties, road trips, going to prom, or trying to find a first date. The interaction between the characters really pulls the movie together and creates a good cohesiveness throughout the film.

Paper Towns setting is Orlando, Florida, where we hear the story told from Quentin Jacobsens (Nat Wolff) perspective. He starts by telling the audience, Everyone gets a miracle, and mine was living across the street from Margo Roth Spielgelman. Margo (Cara Delevingne) was Quentins childhood crush and one of his best friends until they eventually began slipping away from each other during high school, not even saying hi to each other when passing through the halls. Until late one night, Margo shows up at Quentins bedroom window and says she needs him to drive her around because she has nine things to do that night, and at least half of them require a getaway driver. Quentin agrees to go, so they first get revenge on all of her friends that betrayed her and then end up at the SunTrust office building. This is where Margo calls Orlando a Paper Town, a fictional town mapmakers use to discourage copycat mapmakers. The next morning, Margo disappears, leaving behind only a set of clues that point to her position. Quentin begins to be concerned and starts finding the clues Margo left, which include Quentin constantly revisiting the abandoned Mini-Mall where he found signs that Margo had been there recently. With the help of his two nerdy, best friends, Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith), they all work together to break down the clues. The group finds that Margo has gone to the most famous Paper Town of Agloe, New York. Even though it is the end of their senior year, with both prom and graduation right around the corner, Ben and Radar reluctantly go with Quentin on a road trip along with Bens girlfriend Lacey (Halston Sage) and Radars girlfriend Angela (Jaz Sinclair). The comedy that was implanted in the script during the road trip was a great touch to lighten the film. For example, Ben having to pee right after they left, or the Confederate T-shirt Quentin picked up at the gas station. The rest of the movie was going to find the mysterious Margo, which I thought was done better than in the actual novel. Even though you wanted Quentin and Margo to be together in the end, you knew that it was not destined to be that way, and accepted it.

This movie was rated PG-13 for some language, drinking, sexuality and partial nudity all involving teens. I believe that this is a fine rating due to the content displayed during the film.

I would rate this movie, on a scale of 1-10, an 8. I think it was very enjoyable and had relatable characters, the casting was well done (I especially loved Radar and the reactions he had when he told people about his parents gigantic collection of Black Santa!), and the cinematography was superb because of the quality of the filming. It was also well written, I thought, after having read Greens 2008 novel, taking some of the same lines to use as narration and keeping true to many of the most enjoyable moments of the book. There are always parts left out in a film adaptation, but I feel that what was removed or added, like the addition of Radars girlfriend, Angela, during the road trip, helped to create a better flow to the movie.

While Paper Towns is set in a paper world with paper people, it seems so much more realistic due to the amazing well-roundedness of the characters and deep, meaningful story that will keep the audience entertained for the entire movie. At the end of the film, I found myself agreeing with Margos provoking statement, You will go to the Paper Towns, and you will never come back.

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