Paper Towns- 12A

Paper Towns has an Indie, almost hipster, feel to its cinematography. There’s an attempt to achieve the gravitas of the old school coming of age films however it doesn’t quite get there. It’s plot is a little too clean, without consequence or true jeopardy and does not stand up to any scrutiny.
Margo treats her next door neighbour, Q (Nat Wolff),  to a night of reckless abandon before disappearing. Q finds clues that leads to a road trip with his friends. Nat Wolff is brilliant and a sympathetic character. Margo, however is not. She appears underdeveloped and a little too mythic for an audience to believe that this boy would take this journey. In the end, you can’t help but feel cheated, even if Q doesn’t.
It is quite interesting that while the three main characters (Q, Ben and Radar. Margo doesn’t count. She’s the Chasing Amy of the film) are male, yet it still feels like a chick flick. I like the characters, I like there development, but I can’t help but see them as the boys girls want them to be and not true to life. Which is totally ironic as the book, screenplay and film are all in the creative hands of men,
However, I would love to see both Nat Wolff and Austin Abrams (Ben) take on a remake of Weekend at Bernie’s in a few years time. Or, I could simply make this the prequel head cannon to Larry and Richard’s friendship.

Cast- 8
Cinematography- 8
Plot- 6
Pace- 6
Music- 6
Enjoyability- 7