Why was the Paper Towns Movie So Bad?

Paper Towns originally released in print format in 2008 as a YA coming-of-age narrative following Quentin “Q” Jacobson in his search for his childhood friend, Margo Spiegalman. Margo is forward-thinking and ready to escape her small town, while Quentin is chasing a piece of his childhood.

"Everyone Gets a Miracle"

In the middle of their senior year, Margo enlists Quentin on a night of delinquency in which they break into homes, businesses, and theme parks and perform revenge tasks against Margo’s enemies. Margo expresses her dissatisfaction with the performance facade of her hometown in Orlando, calling it a paper town.



The next day, Margo is absent from school… and her home. Her family isn’t too concerned, and they believe Margo is only seeking attention and will return on her own time.

But Margo loves the thrill of the chase, and has previously left clues behind as to her whereabouts. Quentin is desperate to uncover these clues to ease his separation anxiety.

“If You Don't Imagine, Nothing Ever Happens At All.”

What makes John Green’s novels stand out among the competition is the emphasis on character building over an action-filled plot. While many think it corny or cliche, this style of writing is something I think Green does effectively, as the dialogue-heavy scenes are surrounded with introspective prose.

To call the book a bestseller is to put it lightly. John Green was selling copies–over 30 million today. So why was the film adaptation so bad?

Paper Towns premiered in 2015 starring Cara Delevigne. This was her breakout role in the acting industry, and until this point she was solely known as a model. She actually ended up winning a Teen Choice Award for the role, and later went on to star as the Enchantress in Suicide Squad alongside Margot Robbie. She wasn’t a bad choice aesthetically despite playing a high-schooler in her mid-twenties, so that’s nothing new.

But actors are typically only as good as the writing they’re given (think Kristen Stewart in Twilight), the atmosphere wasn’t conveyed cinematically. The beauty of the novel is that it’s deeper meaning is attached solely to the emotions of the reader. In the film adaptation, there was very little emotion to be found.

Margo Roth Spiegelman exists beyond any physical classification due to her enigmatic way of thinking. In the movie format, it’s obvious her character has been set up as a manic pixie dreamgirl. It’s hard to emotionally attach to characters that feel so barren and forced.

The movie boils down to Quentin et al. following Margo around like a lost puppy dog, which despite actually being the whole concept of the book doesn’t translate well on screen. The franchise stood in contrast to the surrounding hyper-fixation on depicting drug and alcohol addiction, but there was also nothing cinematically to make it fresh.

The plot generally follows the book, excluding pivotal moments like the SeaWorld break-in. There are a few bright spots, such as Q and his friends singing the Pokémon theme song to alleviate their anxiety being one of the most accurate depiction of teenage boys.

The entire narrative leads up to Q and Margo’s reunion, when Q arrives in Agloe only to find that Margo not only was not expecting visitors, but was not wanting to be found at all.

Again, the movie was a total financial success, grossing 85 million at the box office. This was due in part to a fandom full of middle and high schoolers doing the large bulk of promo for free on Tumblr and Instagram. It didn’t live up to the hype.



Having read the book, it’s obvious what Fox is trying to accomplish, which makes it that much more noticeable how it misses the mark. But most book to film adaptations do miss the mark in some way, and after seeing the commercial success of The Fault in Our Stars, it only made sense for John Green to try and capitalize. What a treacherous thing, to believe that a movie is more than a movie.

Where to Watch Paper Towns:

Paper Towns is available on Apple TV Google Play, and Redbox.