Review of Paper Towns (2015) by Steven F — 04 Aug 2015
The movie had good acting and being that it is based on a really good book, had that going for it. But for some reason the creators of the movie, a bit over the half way point, took some serious deviations.
The deviations I think ultimately undermined the movie and caused a great story to be average. I wonder if the writer of the screenplay even fully understood all aspects of what the author of the novel was getting at.
The main theme that was missing from the movie was the notion that Quentin had changed his view of Margo long before the road trip to New York ever takes place. How and why that is turns out to be a main crux of the book.
The ending of the movie is ultimately not satisfying because too much detail is left out and the conversation that Quentin has with Margo at the end is fairly different between the movie and the book.
The movie seems to end with this notion that Margo was not Quentin's miracle after all; but in the book, this was merely a statement that Quentin made in passing at the midway point of the book. A more careful reading of the novel will show that in fact she could, in some key ways (even if not directly), still be his miracle.
If anyone reading this review ends up unsatisfied in some way with the end of the movie (or is unsatisfied once they see it) then I urge you to read the novel to resolve that for yourself. This is a textbook example of why screen play writers should not be given so much liberty over adjustment to original material.
The ending of the movie does not survive well and leaves the viewers wanting or not believing; and while the ending of the novel is also quite unexpected, and not totally different in nature, it is much more satisfying and also quite meaningful (and believable) in nature.
Please don't fault the actors, because the acting I think was on par with the original material from the book. However, again, screen play writers should never try their own take on a classic to this extent.
They kind of messed up the movie by trying that here.
This review of Paper Towns (2015) was written by Steven F on 04 Aug 2015.
Paper Towns has generally received mixed reviews.
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