Paper Towns

The second screen adaptation of a John Green YA novel (following The Fault in Our Stars), filmmaker Jake Schreier's Paper Towns stars Nat Wolff as Quentin “Q” Jacobsen, who has been infatuated with Margo Roth Spiegelman (Brit supermodel Cara Delevingne), ever since her family moved in across the street when he was 9 years old. Although friends during childhood, once the pair get to high school, eccentric Margo has her own cool clique, barely acknowledging geeky Q in the corridor. Then, near the end of their senior year, Margo crawls into Q's bedroom window one night, asking him to drive her around their hometown of Orlando, FL, to wreak revenge on friends who have betrayed her. Following that exhilarating escapade, rebellious Margo mysteriously disappears. Enlisting his nerdy buddies (Austin Abrams, Justice Smith), Q is determined to find Margo—who conveniently leaves clues to her whereabouts. Eventually, Q realizes that Margo has gone to Agloe in upstate New York, a “paper town” (a term used by mapmakers, who put non-existent places on their maps to ensure copyright protection). Unfortunately, this Green adaptation is a comparative disappointment, both conventionally plotted and much too contrived. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Jake Schreier and writer John Green, “Lightning Round” interview segments with Green and costars Nat Wolff (8 min.) and Cara Delevingne (5 min.), brief promo featurettes (5 min.), a photo gallery, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “making-of” featurette (21 min.), deleted/alternate scenes (6 min.), a gag reel (3 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a somewhat lackluster adaptation.] (S. Granger)