Paper Heart

Very clever & funny treatment of a difficult subject
Charlyne Yi is a gal with a problem. She's not sure about love and whether it exists for her or if it ever will. So she sets about on a documentary quest to find out what other people think love is and just what exactly they think about it.

It's a romantic comedy that's a fake documentary that turns out to be party a true documentary. Trust me, you'll have to watch it to know what I just said.

Charlyne meets Michael Cera at a house party and a friendship begins to bud. After a short time, Mr. Cera would like it to develop into a romance because he falls in love with Charlyne.

As Shakespeare once wrote, therein lies the rub.

I guess love is something different for every individual and we need to discover what it is for ourselves. People can help us but the conclusions we draw are our own based upon our individual life experiences. And so it is for Ms. Yi.

I had to watch this one twice before writing my review. After that first...

Quirky, light, unique, thought provoking
I delayed watching this film because I made the mistake of reading too many negative reviews. It seemed like it was just going to be too "out there." The front artwork showing Yi and Cera running away from a film crew didn't help much. I was expecting a melodramatic mockumentary which didn't interest me at all. As others have pointed out, this is a hybrid documentary with elements of both a traditional documentary and fictional storytelling.

Yes, both Yi and Cera are awkward. I don't know about Yi so much, but that's Cera's M.O. so I'm surprised by other viewers surprise regarding the awkwardness in this film. That's part of the story and its charm.

There are basically three parts to "Paper Heart." The story between Yi and Cera, the interviews with everyday people and their experiences with love, and Yi's simplistic yet charming artistic interpretation (sort of a variation of stop-action, but different). All three parts are good. However, I do have to...

Pleasantly Entertaining
This faux documentary was nice a story to watch, but didn't leave a lasting impression. While I enjoyed it, there aren't many people I know I could recommend it to because it doesn't cater to a very wide crowd.

Which is weird because the topic is LOVE, but the presentation is too art-house for about 95% of the people I know.

That said it had its charms with comically and painfully awkward lead Charlyne Yi, and ever-droll Michael Cera.

The highlight of the entire movie was the funny little paper side tales presented. I supposed these help inform the title.

Overall, if you're into quirky, art-house, faux documentary films about love (ie your a college freshman majoring in liberal arts) you'll probably enjoy this flick

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