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In the movies, love plays out in all kinds of stereotypical ways. There’s the chick lit romance that turns an unlikely pair into a match made in heaven. There’s the lovably awkward teen romance. There’s the old married couple who still love each other, despite all their griping and arguing. But no matter how many movies you’ve seen, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve never seen love portrayed quite like this.
In Paper Heart, comedian Charlyne Yi teams up with her friend, Nick Jasenovec (the film’s director, who’s actually portrayed by actor Jake M. Johnson), to create a documentary about love. It’s a topic that Charlyne knows very little about, so she sets out on a cross-country quest to see if anyone can tell her what it really means to be in love. Along the way, she conducts real-life interviews with everyone from lonely divorcees to happily married couples. She talks to college professors, divorce lawyers, wedding chapel Elvises, and a playground full of elementary school students.
While she’s working on the project, though, Charlyne meets Michael Cera (who, until recently, was also her long-time real-life boyfriend). Ever the skeptic, Charlyne initially brushes him off. But the more she gets to know him, the more she likes him. And as she and Nick continue making their documentary, Charlyne’s blossoming romance with Michael becomes part of the movie.
Paper Heart is a difficult movie to explain. It’s an indie pseudo-documentary / romantic comedy, starring real people who play fictionalized caricatures of themselves (as well as an actor who plays another real person), mixed with real interview subjects, whose stories are often depicted using handmade puppets (yep…puppets). It’s a fascinating little experiment, but it’s often difficult to keep the reality and the fiction (and, um, the puppets) separate. And, for detail-oriented people like me, that’s just plain maddening.
Still, the film’s concept is a creative one: a documentary filmmaker who finds herself in a real-life exploration of the topic that she’s trying to examine in her movie. In the right hands, it could have been a charming and clever little story about looking for love and finding it where you least expect it. And, at times, that’s exactly what Paper Heart is. The real-life love stories are enchanting—from the couple who married young and have been together for half a century to the family court judge who fell in love with a divorce lawyer. And Yi’s quirky puppet depictions actually make them even more enjoyable.
The film’s greatest problem, however, lies within the fictional side of the story. Cera once again plays the lovably awkward romantic lead—the same character he’s played in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Juno, and a host of other quirky indie films in the last few years. You’ve seen the schtick before, but he’s so good at it that it never really gets old. Yi, however, is not so good at it. There’s nothing natural about the weird faces she pulls or her nasally, mumbled dialogue or her geeky retro wardrobe. It all feels painfully staged—as if she’s trying really hard to be nerdy and socially awkward (and, well, unlovable). As a result, her performance is so unnatural that it’s nearly unwatchable.
So while Paper Heart may have its share of charming moments, the strange overlap of fact and fiction makes it complicated—and Yi’s performance makes the romcom part of the movie extremely uncomfortable. The unique idea makes it intriguing, but the awkward execution makes it painful to watch.
