Movie Review: Paper Towns

Movie: Paper Towns
Genre: Teen drama
Starring: Nat Wolff, Austin Abrams, Cara Delevingne
Rating: PG 13
My Rating: Two thumbs mostly up

I hadn't planned on going to Paper Towns on release night, but when we realized that it was release night, we were all like... why not? So, we found ourselves at the very first show!

Paper Towns is definitely not my favorite John Green book, so I didn't have really high expectations going in, but guys, it was really pretty funny. In a silly, crude and a bit of a naughty sort of way. We were all LOLing in many many places and I'm not a huge LOLer really.

This kid (Austin Abrams as Ben) stole the show.

One thing... I don't know why the girl who plays Margo gets such press time and billboard time and etc because,  you know, she's hardly in the movie. (She does disappear after all.) It's the boys, the three friends, that really should be headlining this thing. They. Were. Awesome. Oh my gosh, they were great.

Backing up... here's a bit of a summary of the story for those who have not read the book: We have Quentin (also known as Q) who's had a crush on his neighbor Margo since she moved in when they were kids. Now that they are in high school, they barely talk. Margo is WAY out of his league. Then one night, she comes to him and asks for his help to exact revenge on all her friends that have wronged her in some way. Q has the best night of his life. The next day, she disappears and now it's his mission to find her.

Q and Margo sneaking around.

Up front, it appears it's a story about this crazy Margo girl, but really, it's about Q and how he learns what's really important. Which has nothing to do with Margo, but more about the relationships he's had going for years already. I really like this message.

The movie, like I said, is crude in parts, but you'll laugh anyway. I thought the audience would come unglued entirely when one of the boys has to pee in a can as they are driving. Stupid, but so so funny due to the crazy awesome acting job on his party. On the other hand,  I did not like how the movie glamorizes teenage sex and makes it look perfectly okay. Whatever.

The road trip.

Oh, and a certain other star from a certain other John Green book/movie makes a cameo and oh my word the audience I was in about flipped out!! It was awesome! Let me know if you see it and if your audience has such a reaction!

Anyway, I enjoyed and it and we all left laughing and giggling and with this lovely message (see above) in our heads.

See it if you are a John Green fan, a teen drama fan, or a fan of the silly. If none of those things fit you, you'll probably roll your eyes and wonder what all the fuss is about.

Here's the trailer: