This is my third installment of “Book to Screen” and the same issue has popped up (to varying degrees) in all three of them; it’s especially difficult for someone, something or a chain of events to have the same weight in 90 to 120 minutes of screen time as it does in, let’s say, a 336-page book. Jake Schreier’s adaptation of John Green’s Paper Towns is a fine film filled with strong performances, charming characters and worthy coming-of-age lessons, but there’s no denying that Quentin’s (Nat Wolff) quest to track down Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne) feels far more challenging, suspenseful and meaningful in the book.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for both Paper Towns the book and Paper Towns the movie.

What’s So Special about Margo Roth Spiegelman?

paper-towns-cara-delevingne
Image via 20th Century Fox

Green’s book is divided into three sections, one of which is devoted to recapping how Q feels about Margo and what happens during his crazy late night adventure with her. The movie is divided into three acts and you could say that act one is “The Strings,” act two is “The Grass” and act three is “The Vessel,” but even then, act one of the film feels rushed and isn’t nearly as rich as “The Strings” in the book. Yes, the movie clearly conveys that Q had a thing for Margo since the moment he met her, but it doesn’t take it any further than that and that just makes it any old, unremarkable teen crush.

It also makes it tough to answer the question, “Why Margo of all girls?” The movie quickly conveys that she’s beautiful and confident, but that’s really all we get. We don’t see her in action at the top of the social ladder at school and without Q’s narration, we don’t hear much about what makes her so strikingly different from others in the popular crowd like Lacey and Becca. This issue could have been cleared up during her big night out with Q, but her plan in the movie feels far less extraordinary than her plan in the book.

The First Act Needed a SeaWorld Substitute

paper-towns-movie-nat-wolff-cara-delevinge
Image via 20th Century Fox

When news broke that the SeaWorld scene was cut from the film, fans weren’t happy. It’s a great sequence so I can certainly understand why some were disappointed but, 1) this is an adaptation and some things have to go for one reason or another; and, 2) the decision to remove the sequence in light of the Blackfish documentary is totally justifiable. However, the problem is that screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber don’t replace it with anything. Whereas the book jumps from prank to prank and culminates with a daring break-in that could come with some serious repercussions, the movie just moves from prank to prank and calls it quits after the SunTrust scene. It’s a sweet moment to end on, but it makes the night far less remarkable.

This is especially unfortunate because there was an easy fix - just swap SeaWorld for any other theme park in the Orlando area, or even a random carnival for that matter. The reason I appreciated the SeaWorld sequence in the book isn’t because it’s SeaWorld specifically, but rather because I love amusement parks and the thought of being in one when I shouldn’t is exciting.

Quentin Can’t Change Overnight

paper-towns-movie-cara-delevinge-nat-wolff
Image via 20th Century Fox

The fact that prank night is a bit anticlimactic compared to the book also really takes away from the impact Margo has on Q. As presented in the film, Margo and Q just zip from one stop to the next, pull some pranks, share a few cutesy moments in between and that’s it. In the book, however, Green really takes the time to put you in Q’s position, ensuring that you understand his devotion to Margo while also highlighting the fact that he’s genuinely scared of facing the repercussions of what they’re doing. Just having Wolff talk about his apprehension on screen doesn’t have the same effect.

The screenplay also forgets the importance of that night soon after it happens. Margo and Q’s adventure is still the inciting incident, but as presented in the film, it’s really just a means to an end. They pull the pranks together, rekindle their friendship and then, all of sudden, Q is willing to do absolutely anything to find her. In the book, however, the change is much more gradual. We get to see Q become more and more desperate to find her and, in order to do so, he must remind himself of the events of that night.

Where Are the Parents?

Parents are important in coming-of-age films. First off, who they are can say a lot about their children, and secondly, having them around makes the situation far more realistic. I remember reading the part of the book when Q decides to miss his high school graduation to track down Margo and thinking, what would my parents say if I tried to pull something similar? In the movie, that moment is reduced to a mere phone call. Yes, it addresses the issue, but personally, there is absolutely no way I could call and tell my parents that I decided to take an impromptu road trip from Orlando to New York and finish that conversation amicably in a matter of seconds.

And that’s not the only way missing parents hurt the film. The severe lack of Mr. and Mrs. Jacobsen takes a lot away from Q as a character. In the book we get to see how their professional lives as therapists collide with their personal lives as parents. A good deal of Q’s decision-making early on in the book reflects his parents’ rational and then, later on, when he strays and takes more risks, the change is far more profound. He never loses sight of what his parents taught him, but at the same time, he learned something important from Margo and his journey is primarily about finding a balance between them.

The Ups and Downs of Ben and Radar

Q’s best friends, Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith), are fun characters in the book, but they’re definitely the two that had the most to gain from coming to life on the big screen. As presented in the film, both still have a number of rather familiar best buddy quirks, but Abrams and Smith manage to take those qualities and have some fun with them while also making Ben and Radar feel like real people rather than sidekick caricatures.

However, Ben and Radar do suffer a bit from the simplification of their friendship with Q. There’s absolutely nothing Abrams and Smith could have done about this, and I have a feeling this was inevitable given that there’s less time to build that friendship in the movie, but I do miss seeing the difference between Q’s connection to Radar and his connection to Ben. In the book, it was very clear that Q could count on Radar when it came to certain things and on Ben when it came to others, but in the film, they operate as one unit. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and I think their friendship is one of the strongest components of the film, but it certainly isn’t as rich without the layers we get in the book.

There are also ups and downs to what Neustadter and Weber did with Ben and Radar’s romantic relationships. Something feels a bit forced when Angela asks Radar if he’s scared of her, (like the only reason that’s even in there is so they could use the line, “I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of losing you”), but thanks to Angela’s bigger presence, their relationship does feel much more genuine than most on-screen high school romances. On the other hand, I do think that Ben could have had a stronger personal arc and a more satisfying connection to Lacey had the screenwriters stuck a bit closer to what we get in the book and made their relationship status official.

The Stakes Aren’t as High

paper-towns-austin-abrams-nat-wolff

The biggest problem with Paper Towns the movie is that the stakes don’t feel nearly as high as they do in the book. For example, in the book, it’s a pretty big deal that Q must miss his high school graduation because he has less than 24 hours to get to Agloe before Margo leaves the area for good. In the movie, however, he only runs the risk of missing prom. As far as he knows, Margo has no plan to leave Agloe anytime soon, and missing prom isn’t nearly as devastating as the idea of missing Margo completely and possibly never getting this close to finding her again.

The movie also suffers because it fails to clearly convey the amount of time that’s passed since Margo’s disappearance. In the book, you’re constantly reminded of how long she’s been away and can see how her absence affects things at school, at home and for Q in particular. In the movie, someone eventually points out that she’s been away for a few weeks, but it’s far too late in the game. The amount of time she’s been away and the amount of time Q’s spent looking for her just doesn’t bear the same weight.

Conclusion

paper-towns-nat-wolff
Image via 20th Century Fox

Clearly I much prefer the book to the movie, but it’s still a fun film. Wolff is a charming lead, Abrams and Smith make great impressions as his best friends and there are loads of touching coming-of-age scenarios to connect to and enjoy, but there’s just no way this story can strike as strong a chord when reduced to 109 minutes of screen time. Margo didn’t just run away from home for a bit. She cut off communication with her parents and Q was completely consumed by his need to find her for an entire month of their lives. Both sacrificed so much to find what they were looking for and by paring down the details of that journey and the effect it had on those around them, the movie winds up reducing the value of the entire story. Again, Paper Towns is a solid movie that I will likely watch and enjoy time and time again, but I’m also fairly certain that there was absolutely no way to squeeze enough of the book into the movie to ensure it would be as effective.