Film Review: Paper Towns

There are some films you go into knowing will be great, but paradoxically terrified will fall short of your expectations. Paper Towns was one of those. And, as it usually does, instinct won out over fear. The film was beautiful. The filmic adaptation of John Green’s book The Fault in our Stars hit cinemas last year and the impact was unbelievable. Dubbed ‘this generation’s Titanic’, The Fault in our Stars was beyond exceptional. Paper Towns, quite clearly, had a lot to live up to.

I was fortunate enough to attend an advanced screening of the film on the 1st, complete with an exclusive Q&A from the London premiere featuring interviews with the author, as well as stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne, hosted by internet celebrity duo Dan Howell and Phil Lester.

Fans had been sceptical about model Cara Delevingne stepping into the role of the story’s heroine Margo Roth Spiegelman, concerned by both her previous lack of acting experience and whether or not the British star would be able to adopt a convincing American accent for the role. But all the doubters needn’t have worried. Delevingne’s performance as the enigmatic leading lady was superb, and her accent so flawless it sounded completely natural and congruent with her US co-stars.

And speaking of her co-stars, Nat Wolff (who starred in The Fault in our Stars as Augustus Water’s best friend, Isaac) did an astounding job of bringing to life the story’s protagonist, Quentin “Q” Jacobsen. It was immediately and immensely obvious that Wolff thoroughly understood his character, and the emotion and complexity he brought to the role was astonishing.

The book itself is filled with the metaphoric resonances and motifs that fans have come to expect from the author, and to those dedicated to the novel – myself included –those themes being translated onscreen was of the utmost importance. Again, we need not have worried; Wolff’s impassioned monologue-like narration taken directly from the novel maintained the book’s tone, and the message of how dangerous it is when both misimagine our peers, or imagine them in insufficient complexity.

Markus Zusak, Printz-honour winning author of The Book Thief, once said about The Fault in our Stars, “You laugh, you cry, and then you come back for more.” And I stand by that in relation to Paper Towns – both book and film. I laughed, I cried, and when the film goes to general release in the UK on the 17th, I’ll most certainly be coming back for more.

Rating: 9/10

Words by Lauryn Green