John Green’s third book, and number five on the New York Times bestseller list at debut, Paper Towns, premiered last night at a special event across the globe known as Night On The Towns. Along with the movie premier, a special live stream Q&A session with John Green and cast members was broadcasted to all the lucky viewers in the theatres. Now, the only reason I am here is because I got to be one of those people who saw the movie before anyone else.
This review will stand alone from the book as much as possible, even though I very much want to compare the two. If I were to do a book versus movie comparison we would be sitting here all day, as the two present the central themes of Paper Towns in fairly different ways. Just so you don’t have to wonder, I will actually say that I liked the movie more than the book. For some reason, this only happens to me with John Green’s work. I suppose that because his messages are so relatable they’re just better seen played out in real life.
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Casting
Putting aside the fact that I am completely biased in favour of Cara Delevingne, I will say that she did a great job in this film as Margo Roth Spiegelman. When she quit modelling to become an actress there were many skeptics, but I feel that she has proved her worth with this film (and will continue to prove her worth in upcoming blockbusters this year).
After doing a search on how to properly spell Margo’s last name, I stumbled across an article which critiques Green’s choice in casting the former model. Arguably, Margo was this beautiful creature who could not be described as skinny or fat, but several references in the books point out that she is a curvy girl. Cara happens to be tall and skinny, as enraged fans have pointed out, and thus contradicts the relatable image of a normal-looking teenage girl.
What do I think? I completely brushed that aside for the book, as I also did for the movie. To be perfectly honest, Margo’s looks were something that added slightly to her character but weren’t so pivotal as to be a theme in the novel. The lessons about friendship, not judging a book by its cover, and how much we don’t understand one another but need to were far more gripping than Margo’s appearance. (John Green himself has even said that a character’s physical appearance in a movie adaptation doesn’t really matter.)
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Moving on, the movie would not have been as amazing without Cara’s equally talented costar Nat Wolff who plays Quentin. As Cara herself said in the live Q&A, she would not have been able to fully capture and understand the character of Margo had she not had Nat by her side as Q. There is something to be said about their adorable off-screen friendship, which definitely translates into great chemistry onscreen. Wolff portrayed Q just as awkwardly as I had pictured the character in my head, and was also a perfect balance of sweet but selfish. Plus, his laugh is to- die for.
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As for the rest of the cast, I think they did a bang-up job. The sassy lines and amazing faces from Justice Smith really capture the spirit of Radar. Every time Austin Abrams delivered a line with Ben’s signature phrase, “honey bunny”, I felt shivers in my soul. Halston Sage (and her always perfect hair) did a good job fulfilling Lacey, but at certain points in the movie I felt a sort of disconnect with her character. The initial exchange and introduction of Lacey seemed a bit tense and out-of-character, but maybe I was the only one who felt that way. As for Jaz Sinclair, who plays Angela, I think she did a great job. Since Angela wasn’t a main character in the book, there was not much to go off of but Sinclair seamlessly inserted herself into the band of hooligans and really added to the plot of the movie.
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Cinematography
Perhaps this low rating was from having seen too many of these teen flicks in my life, but there was nothing really impressive. The camera panned away at the exact second you thought they would, scene changes happened predictably, and no real creative angles or shots were taken. But to be fair, it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t spectacular. This is a movie about regular teenagers after all, so I wasn’t exactly expecting panoramic shots of scenery or an intense montage sequence.
Even within the predictability there were moments of surprise and moments where the entire audience burst into laughter watching some great and memorable scenes from the book come to life. As an added bonus, there were several scenes that the book didn’t explore but will make your heart melt and race at the same time. I do have to give credit to whoever decorated Radar’s house with all of those black Santas, though, because that was a scene I was really looking forward to seeing in the movie. Also, Margo’s room decor is perfect and I want it.
Progression
The entire movie was paced fairly well, with each part getting just enough detail to move the plot along. Where I butt in with some criticism is during the beginning when many of the characters were being introduced. During Margo and Q’s night of shenanigans, they tag many different people who were not yet introduced to the audience. All of the side characters are thrown at you in a frenzy and most of the backstory was not really there.
It almost felt as if the movie was assuming we’d already read the book at certain moments, as certain relationships or opinions are thrown out into the air and not expanded upon for the sake of saving time. Of course, the movie was made with the intent that you would understand even if you hadn’t read the book, but sometimes it didn’t feel that way. Or perhaps it was because I read the book that I read into certain parts too much and was trying to fill in gaps that weren’t there. Honestly, though, with any movie adaption of a book, those who read the book will always have some sort of advantage.
Even so, that feeling only occurred a couple of times throughout the entire film, so as a whole it did a great job standing on its own. At risk of spoiling too much, the movie adaptation of Paper Towns took quite a different direction from the book. This can most obviously be seen with the inclusion of Angela in the search for Agloe. Readers of the book will be thoroughly surprised and just as engaged in this grand adventure as everyone else in the audience.
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Script
As with any John Green novel-turned-film, all of the quotable lines from the book were included in the movie. Notably, Margo’s paper towns and paper people speech as she and Q looked over Orlando was a special time for all of us. Of course, many of the lines did have to be changed in order to fit a film and better match how people actually talk in real life. Nothing seemed too ridiculous or unrealistic to come out of an 18 year-old’s mouth, so I feel the adaptation flowed quite nicely.
Radar complaining about his parents’ collection of black Santas was amazing and the group really felt like a bunch of old friends. The bonds formed within the cast over filming is precious, and it translates into effortless banter and genuine laughter. In fact, many parts of the movie came from the improvisation of the cast while filming or simply goofing off when they didn’t think the director was pointing a camera at them.
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Overall
It was a great summer film for this year and will definitely inspire you to take a road trip with your friends. I definitely felt all the feelings when Q, Radar, and Ben talked about moving away for university/college in different places because I could so relate. Watching the movie, my heart raced at all the parts where it should’ve, but didn’t during the book. Being a work of John Green’s, some cheese is necessary although not completely overdone. By the end of the film, the point is that we all need to wake up and reevaluate our lives, figure out what’s important to us, then consider what’s really important to us. Becoming an adult and transitioning away from everything you know is a confusing and scary time. That’s why you need to get your priorities straight in order to keep yourself grounded.
Catch Paper Towns in theatres now, and experience the adventure for yourself.
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FTC: This is not a sponsored post, and all opinions are completely genuine. ♥