‘Paper’ Plot Feels Flimsy
Nerdy Quentin (Nat Wolff) has spent a lifetime lusting after his popular, adventurous neighbor Margo (Cara Delevingne). But she seems to barely know he’s alive — until one night when Margo leads Quentin on an all-night quest to seek revenge on people who have wronged her. The next day, she disappears, leaving behind a trail of clues that Quentin and his friends use to try to find her. Based on the young adult novel of the same name by John Green, this film seems to be highly anticipated — only, not by us. We know John Green is wildly popular, but we can’t seem to get on board based on this trailer.
Paper Towns opens in wide release July 24.
JAMES: So Margo enlists Quentin to get back at her cheating boyfriend, Saran Wraps his car, says something about paper towns, kisses him and then disappears — but not before she scatters cryptic notes around her house for him to find. Quentin sets off to find her but the clues lead him to abandoned buildings and old shacks with a mad person’s ranting scrawled onto the walls. “When you go to the paper towns you will never come back.” OK, what? Crazy much?
NICOLE: OK, so this dude is pining after Margo for years, and she doesn’t give him the time of day? But as soon as she needs something from him, she’s all up in his business. LAME!
PAIGE: I felt my teeth clench while watching this, so I know that this is the epitome of a “not for Paige” movie. Don’t tell me how to live my life, John Green!
JAIMIE: Eh, not interested. I have not read any of John Green’s books. I have heard they are good, but this plot and even The Fault In Our Stars just feels like one gigantic cliche. Like, invisible boy across the street is in love with the rebel he doesn’t even know. She’s just as cool as he thinks she is, and then she teaches him some grand life lesson about not being a sheep. Great, thanks John Green.
CHRISTINA: I always have a soft spot for coming-of-age dramas, but even I have little desire to see this. Although, I feel like I am missing out on some big cultural thing because I have never read or seen anything by John Green. He seems to be all the rage with teens/young adults these days, and this movie seems to be getting a lot of hype. Maybe the fact that none of us are into this just proves that we are all old.
PAIGE: Margo seems a little too manic pixie dream girl for me. They threw in that hint of delinquency to give her a little edge, but she is otherwise the epitome of MPDG — a woman who exists only to bring quirky meaning to some sad sap’s life.
CHRISTINA: I agree that Margo seems completely MPDG, at least from this trailer. Hopefully, the movie itself gives more depth to her character, but it really doesn’t seem like it.
NICOLE: I’m kind of hoping Margo is some sort of sick serial killer. She lures in unsuspecting boys knowing they’ll fall in love with her, and then creates this elaborate plan to make them prove how much they love her. And only then, can she kill them.
PAIGE: I hope the mystery is that Quentin killed Margo and then, in a multiple-personality fit of mania, planted clues to lead himself to the truth that he is actually crazy. After all, the whole “I was the last guy to see her” thing usually leads to a kidnapping or murder investigation, not a cool road trip with bros.
