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Gone Girl

Every guy has at least one experience involving a beautiful, wild, slightly insane girl who stole his heart/pride/money/fill in the blank. In "Paper Towns," that girl is Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne). Quentin (Nat Wolff) has been living next door to her all his life, even though they run in different circles. He is sweet, humble, good at school. She is popular and elusive -- here today, gone tomorrow, many times over.

Set in the Orlando suburbs, where there's not much to do besides fantasize about the one you can't have, it's senior year of high school and Q (that's his nickname) has just had an amazing night with Margo. Not the kind you're thinking: They pulled an all-nighter running around town, seeking revenge on people who recently did her wrong. One target is an exposed, cheating boyfriend. "It's a penis, in the same sense that Rhode Island is a state: it may have an illustrious history, but it sure isn't big," Margo says. Then they dance on the roof of a building because they can.

The next day, she is gone. Her parents aren't concerned because she's done this sort of thing before; she leaves clues and eventually comes back. But he feels like he needs to go find her, like she wants him to, and so he enlists the help of his friends Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith) and they venture off on a puzzle-solving adventure.

If this all sounds a bit cliche and unoriginal, it is. But it's still a sweet-enough movie that will appeal to fans of John Green, the author of "Paper Towns" and "The Fault in our Stars." He does high school snark and self-discovery well. The book is a bit repetitive and unsatisfying in a way the movie rises above, which rarely happens. Directed by Jake Schreier ("Robot & Frank") and adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber ("The Spectacular Now"), there are some changes that may annoy people. For example, Margo is definitely bitchier in the book and the ending has been tweaked. However, everyone will agree that Wolff is perfectly cast as the sensitive-yet-slightly-obsessive Q. They may be more torn on model Delevingne, who comes off a bit Ambien ridden.

There's not really anything that interesting about Margo, which ultimately is the point. The best couple in the movie is Radar and his girlfriend (Jaz Sinclair), who steal the show every chance they get with their adorable normalcy. A movie about them would likely be better. "Paper Towns" is a cute story that will vanish from memory about as quickly as Margo from her next residence.