YA author John Green has carved out a nice niche with his updated John Hughes-esque tales of wise-cracking teens. Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank) directs this adaptation of the writer’s coming-of-age bestseller.
Tame student Q (Nat Wolff ) is about to finish high school. He’s never broken the rules, had any misadventures, or worked up the courage to articulate his love for Margo (Cara Delevingne), the enigmatic town rebel.
When Margo runs away and Q finds a trail of clues leading to her whereabouts, he assembles a posse to track her down. The result in a cross-country road-trip that unfolds in the countdown to prom. The friends thus get to have one final adventure before college.
The message about friendship and enjoying the “good ol’ days” as they’re happening is well-intentioned. However, Green’s story more effectively tackles the tiresome Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. Delevingne’s Margo has the effortless beauty and studied quirkiness sensitive young men supposedly find irresistible – however, she is also intensely aware that teenagers, herself included, cultivate identities, and that, when a person is set on a pedestal, they inevitably lose their footing.