Paper Towns * * *

Paper towns are towns that simply don’t exist,  placed on maps to stop copyright violation.  Anyone who copied the map would be caught.  
But it is unto such a place that our lead character Quentin and his friends go in search of Margo.
Set in the ‘burbs of a an American city (Orlando, Florida in this case), Quentin and Margo are best childhood friends who grow apart as they grow older, but not in location.  She still lives across the road.  As they move into teen years she gets wilder and cooler and he becomes the well behaved dedicated student with limited friends.
Then one night, she recruits Quentin's help on a crazy mission of vengeance against some people that she believes have wronged her.  The night drags Quentin out of his comfort zone and into a world of dangerous behavior.  It’s  second nature to Margo but new to Quentin  He is electrified by the excitement of it all. Then she disappears.
She leaves “clues” and Quentin can only imagine she desperately wants him to follow her. So with the help of his mates the road-trip begins - to a paper town 1200 miles away. A place that is on the map but probably does not exist. Quentin is convinced this is where she will be. He is also  convinced she wants him to get there too.
What he discovers is surprising but also perfectly logical and quite obvious.
The concept of teenagers having a maturity and an ability way beyond their age has always been part of teen movies and teen dramatisations. This can be done annoyingly, or in a manner that you are happy to go with ( Romeo and Juliet anyone?) thus giving us characters and situations of intensity at the small price of credibility.
I quite liked this film, especially the “message” it held and the symbolism of a “paper town” which intensifies in meaning as the story progresses.