Review of Paper Towns (2015) by Jef C — 09 Oct 2016

Paper Towns is a coming of age film. Reviews weren't great, but I adored its message of friendship, its naïveté, its possibilities, and even its tendency to drudge up old regrets. Sure, it's silly and sophomoric in places, but it's filled with some profound associations. Too many critics (and people in general) don't give the devil his due.

Yes, a film can be silly at times and deadly serious at others. In the right hands, it can be virtually anything. Unfortunately, if it's the adaptation of an existing novel, too many people expect it to be "true" (a word used frequently in overly critical reviews) to its original form. True art isn't contrived, forced, bent to fit a form, or torn from a pattern. Even if it emerges from a story that's already been told, it should go where its revised characters or newly explored alternative paths lead. It should reach as far as effectively possible-even if that reach irrevocably changes it.

Requisite high school antics were tempered but still believable (although the keg stand looked seriously backward). Many of the lines were quotable. The themes of friendship and discovery, in particular the discovery of what love might really be, ring true through impromptu adventures and the formation of unexpected relationships. The film itself is delightful, striking emotional chords in several places without being melodramatic or maudlin. The incorporation of paper towns was an intriguing concept.