Paper Heart (C+)

To be honest, this film was not on the top of my “movies to see” list, but after winning sneak peak tix from the Minneapolis based publication, Vitamin, I decided to check it out. It opens in select theaters (including the Landmark Lagoon in Uptown) on Friday, August 7^th. Otherwise, I expect it will be making its way elsewhere August 14^th. All I really knew about this film was that it was a semi real “mockumentary” staring that stoner girl from Knocked Up, Charlyne Yi, and the always enjoyable Michael Cera (Super Bad, Juno). I wasn’t sure if this movie was going to actually be an documentary about love, and Charlyne’s quest to find it, as the previews proclaim. After seeing it, I’m still unclear.

Cera and Yi play a very believable couple, and according to my own research, they apparently did date for about 3 years but have just recently broken up. Whether this is just a rumor is up in the air, but I could believe it. Whatever the case, sources point to the fact that they were in fact acting during the movie and the only actual documentary aspect of the film came from the normal civilian interviews Yi conducts. I definitely laughed a few times during Yi’s quest to find out if true love exists, and you get to see some of the classic Apatow comedy cameos, but as her journey across the country, and internationally, comes to an end, we are given little closure or reason to feel satisfied with the final product.

The premise of the film was simple, Yi and Johnson travel across America to find out if true love exists. Yi apparently doesn’t believe in love and thinks she will never be able to truly love somebody. To see if she can’t be convinced, she decides to make a documentary to compare her beliefs to other perspectives. While on this journey, she runs into an old acquaintance (Michael Cera) at a party and the two begin to develop a relationship. Yi admits at first she didn’t have much of an interest in Cera, but as he continued to pursue her, she developed quite an affection. The ultimate question of the movie was though, would that affection turn into love? And if it did, would Yi admit it? This is when Yi begins to focus less on finding out if true love exists from interviews and more from her relationship with Michael, thus changing the direction of the movie to its ultimate, yet abrupt and unsatisfying, ending.

Charlyne Yi will be a new face to most as her resume is not very deep. She has done some acting and stand-up comedy, along with having some musical experience, but this is definitely her theatrical big break. And according to Judd Apatow, director of Knocked Up and such, she has the potential to be the next big thing. Well, I’m not sold. While she was cute and a refreshing face to see, I grew tired. She definitely played herself and seemed genuine, but the more I saw her on the screen, the more I wished I was watching someone else. I don’t know if it was because she was too stubborn or just boring, but something was missing for me. Luckily, we had Michael Cera. Cera plays his norm, a nerdy awkward kid, and he does a great job of it yet again. The “director” of this mockumentary was also a fresh face in Jake M. Johnson. I liked him and what he was able to bring to the movie, but he did take away from the documentary feel as he tended to act as an actor would, which is understandable.

I don’t know what exactly Yi was looking for in her journey, but I think the reason she doesn’t believe in true love is because she has a different definition of the word. She acted like she was above the concept of love and was too stubborn to give in to this “magical” feeling. I like to think that I’m usually pretty good at reading people, and I read the word phony on Yi’s forehead. It was fine for the movie because she had some entertaining interviews and received some funny reactions for her thoughts on the issue of love, but not enough to make this movie a must-see.

This was yet another quirky-comedy-love story, and it had its moments. It had a unique style all on its own and presented some new ways to do story telling and interviewing. But as the film went on, most of the interviewees began to all seem like the same type of people with the same reactions on the idea of love. Besides being flabbergasted that Yi doesn’t believe in true love, their usual response was, “you’ll know it when you find it.” Too bad for this movie though, because it never finds it.

What Should You Do? See it if your into these types of movies or actors, but don’t expect to find anything especially exciting in it.