Normally going to see a film shot using fake documentary style means you’re in for something gimmicky. Not so with Paper Heart. Though the meat of this story takes place as the movie within the movie, a documentary being shot by comedian Charlyne Yi, it’s not without purpose.
Yi sets off to shoot a documentary about love and in the process finds herself kind of maybe falling for this boy. That boy is Michael Cera, playing Michael Cera. At first though, we meet Charlyne wandering the country interviewing different kinds of people to get their different kinds of views on love. When she starts dating Michael, her director insists that their relationship is also part of the story, and so she allows him to follow her and her new boyfriend around with his camera. The result is something nearly magical, with real couples talking about their experiences in love while we watch a new couple, in Michael and Charlyne, start the process of going through many of those same things at the same time. In the eyes of Charlyne’s interviewees we see her future… maybe.
One problem though: Charlyne doesn’t believe in love. She’s starting to like Michael but love? The concept couldn’t be more foreign to her. Actually it’s this part of the movie which never quite works. It’s just not convincing and worse, though the movie does its best to engage in misdirection, it’s easy to figure out where it’s going. We know how this story must end and no matter how hard Paper Heart tries to be different, it’s that kind of film. Still, this is a sweet and affecting little story and Charlyne Yi, while an odd choice as a leading lady, is just cute enough to root for.
