Every now and again, a winsome and ultimately troubled little movie creeps up and does things a little differently with the likes of Garden State, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and Lost In Translation. This year’s possible entry is Paper Towns and while it’s a teen-fiction take on left-field comedy, it’s got an outside chance of sneaking into the positive side of the fence when it’s released later in 2015.
It’s the movie adaptation of the John Green novel of the same name, which was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best young-adult novel. It’s got a young and fresh faced cast of relative newcomers, apart from model and actress Cara Delevingne (Pan, Tulip Fever), who’s starting to become as well know for her burgeoning movie career as she is for her turns on the catwalk, and with an equally up-and-coming director in Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank) it could be a surprise hit.
Release date
Paper Towns made its way to the big screen in the US on the 24th July 2014 and the UK release date was just a little behind it on the 21st August 2015. With the success of the book, it’s pretty clear that the release coincides with the school holidays to give fans of the novel as much of a chance to see it at the cinema. However, having seen the trailer below it looks like the film is going to have a pretty wide appeal as it taps into the roller-coaster of young love with a road trip adventure story that seems slightly surreal in its nature.
It has also been confirmed for home entertainment in 2015 with a UK DVD, Blu-ray and digital download release date of the 14th December 2015, having already arrived in the US on the 20th October.
Storyline
The plot centres around two kids who grew up next door to in Orlando, Florida. Quentin Jacobsen used to be childhood friends with his neighbour Margo Roth Spiegelman, but as they’ve grown up they’ve grown apart. That hasn’t stopped Quentin becoming increasingly infatuated with Margo as they’ve gotten into their mid to late teen and while he’s lost in unrequited misery he starts to imagine that she will always be way out of his reach.
However, when one night she climbs into his room through an open window, he becomes swept back into her life once again as she asks him to drive her on a night of revenge against her ex-boyfriend and adventure in their little town. The problem is that after their night together Margo disappears, leaving little clues for him to work out in order to find her.
Cast
In addition to Delevingne as Margo Roth Spiegelman, the cast is made up of Nat Wolff (The Fault Is In Our Stars) as Quentin, along with Halston Sage as Lacey Pemberton, Austin Abrams as Ben Starling, Jaz Sinclair as Angela and Justice Smith as Marcus “Radar” Lincoln, their band of adventuring friends.
Production
Jake Shreier has been joined at the helm of the Paper Towns movie by producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. John Green’s novel has been adapted into the film’s screenplay by writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.
First impressions
There’s inevitably going to be an element of cute teen cheer to the movie, but it also looks like there’s a little more bubbling under the surface of the characters, which could build in some interesting developments as the movie gets into its later phases. The film will be won or lost on the merit of these complexities, so if it’s as smart as it looks like it could be, it might just impress. Worst case scenario it’ll be a fun coming of age adventure.
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