Paper Heart

Let me start off by saying, "I don't like Michael Cera." Awkward. Quiet. Almost prepubescent. He's displayed the same characteristics in every role. It's exhausting! That being said, Paper Heart wasn't a film I was too hyped about seeing. But the premise is what got me. Faux-documentary starring musician/comedian Charlyne Yi as herself questioning, "Does true love exist?" Along the way, Yi meets with that loathsome robot of an actor Michael Cera, also playing himself. Their meeting and continuing friendship and eventual relationship becomes a center point for the documentary as the filmmaker Nicholas Jasenovec, not being played by himself but by actor Jake Johnson, tries to find out if Charlyne is finding true love.

Now, already knowing that I am a Michael Cera hater, you would think that I would have instantly written off the film the moment he appears on screen. Well. You'd be mistaken. We're shown a more toned down awkwardness of Michael Cera. He's more laid back and actually kind of suave, in his own weird Michael Cera way. It was actually... refreshing! The relationship between Charlyne and Michael actually seems genuine. They exhibit a great amount of chemistry. Their evolution from acquaintances to friends to boyfriend/girlfriend is believable, which naturally benefits the film.

Charlyne Yi also has nice chemistry with the strangers she encounters and questions about the matters of the heart. The interviewees tell charming and convincing stories that do come off as real, unscripted moments. Overall, Yi shines through in every scene. She's natural. Funny. Cute. Bubbling with enthusiasm.

By now, all movie-goers are familiar with the quirky, romantic comedy and the mockumentary. And Paper Heart does fall prey to an all-too-familiar style. The evolution of the characters is predictable. It progresses just like a normal romantic comedy would. (Not going to spoil the ending.) The "documentary" crew must have contained at least 3 or 4 camera operators. All the angles are covered. Edits between cameras are done with nearly precise accuracy. Normally, I would smile graciously upon such precision. But it doesn't quite work for Paper Heart. The film comes across more like a narrative film than a documentary, which you wouldn't think director Jasenovec would be going for. It sort of clashes a bit with the delightful chemistry between the actors in many cases and makes their performances seem more contrived than real.

Still, Paper Heart is a cute and enjoyable film. Michael Cera is a SURPRISINGLY good character and Charlyne Yi is as cute as a button. Predictable? Yes. Sappy? Yes. But still enjoyable. It's got heart. A heart stronger than the title might suggest. Paper Heart will be enjoyable for its target audience and may even be a good movie for adult couples to see. Love is a game of risk taking and can't be explained by anybody. Just take a chance. And if you liked Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (I did not) or Juno (One great of '08) or just want to enjoy a cute little love story then take a chance on Paper Heart.

This movie is very much like Charlene Yi. It pretends to be something it's not, and doesn't quite succeed enough on any level. Is it a documentary? No. Is it a scripted movie? Much more so than it pretends not to be.

By blending predictable, scripted and entirely acted romantic comedy elements in with what "appears" to be more standard documentary-style interviews, the viewer is left to wonder if anything they are seeing is real, and once that foundation of belief is cracked, the entire movie loses legitimacy. It's not good enough to be a documentary; it's not good enough to be a romantic comedy. Two negatives do not equal a positive.

The movie borders on a saccharine-styled Blair Witch Project with better production values. Li further carries this deception into the real world, denying that she's dating Michael Cera, but then noting in other places that their relationship ended in 2009, conveniently as the movie is released. She also tried to create fiction around her age, pretending to be ten years or more older than Cera, even though she looks she could sit in a high school geometry class. This leaves us to wonder, Why? The deception adds nothing to the movie plot, it's not a cutting-edge move, it's really nothing more than an annoyance.

From the acting side, Li's cutesy nerd style plays well at the start, but wears thin as the movie progresses. Cera is normally a solid actor, but interesting his scenes are the ones where it's most obvious the movie has drifted from faux documentary to a clearly acted and scripted production. It's a bit unsettling.

It's not unwatchable, there's even one or two points where it's almost charming, but many viewers are going to walk away feeling a bit flat, and a bit played.

You don't need to dive to find the remote to turn this movie off it it happens to show up for free on your TV. Yet you're not missing anything if you make it through your earthly existence without seeing Paper Heart. It's mildly entertaining, but just as easily could have been produced by a second-year NYU film student.

Charlyne Yi claims she doesn't believe in love (although she seems to want to believe in it). She and her friend,director Nicholas Jasenovec (on camera played by actor,Jake M.Johnson,so that the real Nicholas Jasenovec can spend time behind the camera) hit the road to try and (somehow)answer her questions by interviewing anybody who is willing to talk on camera. In the middle of all this,actor Michael Cera (Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist,Juno,Superbad)somehow strikes up a friendship with Yi,which somehow manages to turn into a relationship (of sorts). Of course,turns out to shift the focus in the film a bit. Other talking heads figure in this pseudo documentary cum mockumentary (actor/writer/director, Seth Rogan,who is a friend of Yi's,briefly turns up to put in his two cents worth). Along the way,we find out a little more about Charlyne Yi (besides being an actress,she's also a part time musician who actually writes & performs some of the songs in this film). Further down the road (ouch!---bad pun---my bad!), Charlyne & Michael start to get a bit tired of being in the camera lens when they just want a little down time to be alone together. Charlyne Yi seems a bit too tentative in her portrayal of herself at times. Worth taking a look at if you enjoy quirky,youth oriented film fare such as the above mentioned. Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for a bit of rude language & some mature content.

"Paper Heart" falls in line with the "Bruno/Borat" style of film-making, where viewers will probably be asking themselves, "How much of this is real and how much is staged?" Maybe in this case it isn't staged at all. I personally don't know, but I have to say "Paper Heart" feels very real, which is an obvious difference to those two Sacha Baron Cohen movies.

The plot has a documentary crew following around Charlyne Yi who's looking to understand the concept of love, by traveling around America and interviewing people. Charlyne is an offbeat young woman who doesn't believe in true love, herself. She could easily be a geeky friend of Summer from "(500) Days of Summer", another recent Sundance romcom. Charlyne meets Michael Cera at a house party, who acts just like the characters he played in "Juno" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist". Charlyne and Michael soon become a couple, although Charlyne not surprisingly retains her status of true love.

While on the road, she meets couples who share their feelings of love and give stories on how they met. Some of these stories are re-enacted in a very whimsical fashion, by using cardboard, cotton, marker, etc. If you saw "The Science of Sleep", they're similar to those fantasy scenes, except those probably were more time consuming to make compared to "Paper Heart". While these scenes are still cute and funny, they are a bit predictable and, yes, pretentious. But hey, I can give credit to the filmmakers for trying to be creative. In fact, the final scene in the movie is the best, because it parodies those scenes in an awesomely over-the-top fashion.

The movie itself is charming and often funny, but it does wear out its welcome after awhile. I felt like there were scenes that could be cut shorter or didn't really have to be included, like the interview with kids at a playground about love. It seems like it was done just for fun or for timing. It does have one good line where a girl says she's in love with Chris Brown (or someone named Brown) and says to Charlyne, "At least I admit it."

"Paper Heart" doesn't have any real direction, but neither does life. Are Charlyne and Michael made for each other? What if their relationship doesn't last? It's something the filmmakers just have to work with. From what I got, there's no defining message about what love is, other than it's to each his own.

So this movie was a bit different. It's filmed like a documentary, and you might actually think it's real if you didn't know better. In fact, I question if some sequences are the performers telling how they really feel. It's about a girl who doesn't believe in love who kind of dates Michael Cera. She is very suspicious of anyone who shows her interest, and puts up a lot of defenses. Do they end up together? I won't tell, but I will say the ending is kind of crazy. I enjoyed it well enough for a single watch. I don't expect to sit through it again, though. Something about Charlyne's attitude is kind of off-putting to me.