Paper Heart

Movie: Paper Heart

I saw it on: August 8, 2009

Cast: Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, Jake M. Johnson

Genre: Comedy, Mocumentary

Synopsis: This is cross between a documentary and a film about making a documentary.  Charlyne Yi (played by herself) is a stand-up comic who does not believe in love.  She decides to make a documentary about love.  She is followed around by her director (Nicholas Jasenovec, portrayed by Jake M. Johnson) and two cameramen.  She wanders around the country asking people what love is. 

At a party, she runs into Michael Cera (played by Michael Cera).  It seems that Michael has seen her stand-up act and kind of liked her.  With the cameras following every step of the way, Michael and Charlyne start calling each other and hanging out together – as “just friends”.  It naturally progresses beyond “just friends”.

My two cents: I really hated this movie.  I went in with high expectations because I always like Michael Cera.  Part of the problem is that I was never quite sure if Michael Cera was actually being Michael Cera or was playing a character in the movie/documentary.  The major problem is that I found Charlyne to be an incredibly annoying character/actress.  From her first blithe statement “I don’t believe in love” (followed by her annoying giggle) I did not like her.  I kept waiting for the movie to grab me – but it never did.

I confess that part of my dislike was my confusion as to what in the heck I was watching.  Was it a movie?  Was it a documentary?  Was it a movie about the filming of a documentary?  Was it a mocumentary?  Since Charlyne played herself and Michael played himself, I assumed the director in the film played himself – no so.  I am pretty easy to please when it comes to movies.  I probably like 90% f the movies I see – but I left this one thinking that there went 88 minutes of wasted time.  I would have enjoyed the 88 minutes much more had I spent it catching up on my backlog of magazines.  Even Scientific American does not leave me so confused.