paper heart movie review

An investigation of the mystery of love by America’s Twee-hearts

Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi.

To describe Charlyne Yi as a whimsical comedian doesn’t quite capture the full flavor. She may be the first female in the history of MySpace to claim she is 10 years older than she really is. She appears naive, clueless, a little simple, but she’s playing us. She embodies that persona in “Paper Heart,” a quasi-documentary about love that is sweet, true and perhaps a little deceptive.

Yi is a performance artist who makes stand-up comedy only one facet of her act. She’s short, cute, likes sweat clothes, wears horn-rimmed glasses, isn’t assertive, is a poster child for the melting pot: Filipino, Spanish, Korean, Irish, German, French and Native American. She always seems to be trying to figure things out. “Paper Heart” is about how she has never been able to figure out love.

The movie takes the form of a documentary about her partnership with director Nicholas Jasenovec to travel America seeking insights into romance from all sorts of possible authorities, all of them obviously real, many of them touching, and one of them an inspired choice. That would be the Elvis impersonator who runs a Las Vegas wedding chapel. These people share their own stories, drawn out by Yi’s disarming persona.

But wait. Although Nicholas Jasenovec appears in the film, that’s not the real Nicholas Jasenovec. It’s an actor, Jake M. Johnson , who is taller and darker, and in my opinion, more handsome than the real Jasenovec. Photographs reveal the real Jasenovec is shorter, cute, likes sweat clothes, wears horn-rimmed glasses.

Then you have his good friend, the actor Michael Cera (Juno’s boyfriend in “ Juno “), who looks much more like Jasenovec than Johnson. When Yi goes to a party with Jasenovec, she meets Cera and it’s love at first sight.

We see them meeting, and it feels absolutely real: You wonder which of these two diffident and soft-spoken people summoned the energy to speak first. But wait. In real life, before shooting on this film began, Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera were already girlfriend and boyfriend, and were celebrated by such gossip sites as Gawker as “America’s Twee-hearts.” Therefore their courtship in the film is scripted, although it feels uncannily real, perhaps because Cera and Yi have such enveloping personas that little they do is quite acting.

These matters give “Paper Heart” an intriguing quality on top of its intrinsic appeal. And the onscreen presence of “Nick,” as the director, is uncannily well-acted by Johnson, embodying a hungry young L.A. filmmaker who thinks all human considerations are secondary to his film. There are moments when he insists on violating the privacy of Charlyne and Michael with his camera, and these scenes are so well-acted and handled that, in retrospect, you realize this is a very well-made film indeed. There’s more than meets the eye.

But wait! In real life, the heartless Cera has just dumped Yi! Right in the middle of their national publicity tour for this film! Can this possibly be true, or is it a publicity stunt? Surely he would have been decent enough to keep it private for a few more weeks? No? Or is it possible that Cera and Yi, like many seemingly passive people, are in fact passive-aggressive and have anger seething just beneath the surface?

Don’t ask me. But if the heartbreak is true, I have advice for Yi about how to cheer herself up wonderfully: Just go to your MySpace page and take off 10 years.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Paper Heart

• Michael Cera as Himself
• Jake M. Johnson as Nicholas Jasenovec
• Charlyne Yi as Herself

Screenplay by

• Charlyne Yi

Directed by

• Nicholas Jasenovec

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Parents' guide to, paper heart.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
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Common Sense Media Review

Quirky semi-documentary about love is cute for teens.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this semi-scripted, semi-documentary-style movie co-starring Juno 's Michael Cera focuses on a young actress' search for the meaning of love. There's not much sexuality, since the focus is on romantic love, but there are a couple of scenes in which couples hold hands and kiss (sweetly,…

Why Age 13+?

Just Apple products: Mac computer and iPod. Young girls talk about how they love

At a party, young adults (they all look over 21) drink and smoke cigarettes. Cha

Language is limited to a few utterances of "s--t" and "bastard."

Charlyne and Michael flirt and hold hands; a couple of brief kisses. There are s

Any Positive Content?

Although Charlyne is resistant to the idea of love, the film suggests that not o

Many of the real-life couples featured in the movie discuss what it takes to hav

Products & Purchases

Just Apple products: Mac computer and iPod. Young girls talk about how they love singer Chris Brown .

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

At a party, young adults (they all look over 21) drink and smoke cigarettes. Charlyne and her director also smoke cigarettes on a couple of occasions.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Charlyne and Michael flirt and hold hands; a couple of brief kisses. There are several interviews of couples discussing their romantic relationships and marriages. One same-sex couple mentions having sex in a car on their second date (non-graphic discussion).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Although Charlyne is resistant to the idea of love, the film suggests that not only is it very real, but it (at least in the form of a long-term, happy marriage) is something that many committed couples have accomplished.

Positive Role Models

Many of the real-life couples featured in the movie discuss what it takes to have a long-lasting marriage and relationship. Charlyne realizes that to further her relationship with Michael, she must sacrifice aspects of the movie's documentary nature.

Parents need to know that this semi-scripted, semi-documentary-style movie co-starring Juno 's Michael Cera focuses on a young actress' search for the meaning of love. There's not much sexuality, since the focus is on romantic love, but there are a couple of scenes in which couples hold hands and kiss (sweetly, not passionately). For a PG-13 movie, there's not much language other than the occasional "s--t" and "bastard." The movie's message is ultimately positive: Love is out there, but it takes personal and emotional risk/commitment to find and feel it. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (3)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Young comedic actress/performance artist Charlyne Yi (best known as Martin Starr's zoned-out girlfriend in Knocked Up ) sets out on the ultimate adventure: to find out whether love truly exists. Skeptical of the concept of love, Yi; her director, Nick (played by actor Jake M. Johnson); and a tiny film crew embark on a cross-country journey to interview professors, novelists, divorcees, and couples -- all to determine the mechanics of love. Along the way, she gets to know the smitten, amazingly earnest Michael Cera ( Juno , Superbad ) and starts longing to be around him. But is it love?

Is It Any Good?

Yi is a refreshingly tomboyish Everygirl. Her incredibly expressive face lets you know exactly how she feels with every bulge of her eyes, downturn of her mouth, or lift of her eyebrows. Her skepticism about love makes the scenes with the geeky-but-adorable Cera sweetly predictable (the girl who doesn't believe in love discovers it on film for the very first time!), until she admits in front of him and her crew that she basically doesn't love him. Later, when she realizes how much she misses him, she begins to second-guess herself, which is, for a movie, pretty predictable.

The best part of PAPER HEART (a "hybrid" of documentary footage and scripted filmmaking) isn't the When Harry Met Sally -style interviews with couples, but enchanting little cardboard puppet shows used to depict the various love stories told in those interviews. Each interlude is magical, despite (or perhaps because of) the crude materials that look straight out of a preschool craft closet: aluminum foil, yarn, cardboard, and toy vehicles. Ingeniously crafted, the mixed-media, mixed-form film is charming and uplifting -- a welcome change from all the crass cynicism that's usually on display at the multiplex.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about adolescent and adult relationships, especially in light of the one couple who got married at 17. Do you think there are any rules about what makes a successful relationship?

Do you think this movie fits into the documentary genre, or should it be considered a comedy? Is it disappointing to know that the "director" in the movie was played by an actor?

What did you think of the puppet segments? How did they work (or not) with the rest of the movie?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 7, 2009
• On DVD or streaming : December 1, 2009
• Cast : Charlyne Yi , Jake M. Johnson , Michael Cera
• Director : Nicholas Jasenovec
• Inclusion Information : Non-Binary actors, Genderfluid actors, Queer actors, Asian actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Overture Films
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 88 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some language
• Last updated : April 15, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Paper Heart Reviews

The quirky characters and creative presentation balance out a wandering plot.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 29, 2020

Funny, charming, awkward, and totally believable ...

Full Review | Mar 12, 2019

But though some of the emotions portrayed are fake, Paper Heart ultimately is a heartfelt film that wears its sincerity on its sleeve.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 6, 2018

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Twee mockumentary bestills love-seeking hipster hearts.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2011

Paper Heart doesn't unearth the meaning of 'love' (spoiler alert?) but it at least shows us how real human beings deal with all those confusing emotions that might equal something close to it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 27, 2010

Ultimately, one doubts that even the parts that seemed real are real, and the entire house-of-cards comes tumbling down.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2010

Determining the exact level of artifice never stops being distracting, and the emotional climax is far from earned.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 9, 2010

There are so many things about the film that could have been annoying (...) but the story is so refreshing and honest that it would be almost impossible to find anything annoying here.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 15, 2010

Yi's worldview is best represented by a song she writes for Cera, a Weezer-esque bit of nerd rock called You Smell Like Christmas. At first the song is irritating, but it sticks in your head and just like Paper Heart, the song is annoyingly hummable.

Full Review | Dec 25, 2009

It's not the worst cutesy, lo-fi love story you'll ever see, but it's shown up by all those genuine true-life tales. Alongside them, its falseness is too glaring.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 13, 2009

An extremely irritating, narcissistic picture.

Full Review | Nov 13, 2009

The segments featuring real people are genuinely affecting, but the realisation that everything else is probably being acted - that truth may be polluted by hoax - gives this otherwise lightweight film a sly, subversive edge.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 6, 2009

Whimsical, solipsistic and self-indulgent, Paper Heart represents everything that is wrong with American independent cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 6, 2009

A world-beatingly annoying and pointless "docu-romcom".

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 6, 2009

The movie's winsome artificiality may drive you bananas.

Like Yi herself, the film may seem at times rather naïve in its outlook, but it's also honest and entertaining.

Full Review | Nov 6, 2009

Where Paper Heart does shine, however, is in the reflections of the general public and few will fail to be moved by their truly inspiring and heartwarming stories of true love.

Yi is a unique tour guide, her deadpan demeanour, embarrassed giggle and horn-rimmed specs generating non-starry appeal.

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Movie Review | 'Paper Heart'

Out on the Highways in Search of Love, an Endlessly Elusive Quest

• Share full article

By Jeannette Catsoulis

• Aug. 6, 2009

At the outset of Nick Jasenovec’s “Paper Heart,” the actress and comedian Charlyne Yi (playing a purportedly fictional version of herself) claims neither to need nor believe in romantic love. Over the course of the movie, however, she will be nudged toward conformity by two parallel forces: the actual testimonies of firm believers and the fictional unfolding of a fumbling affair. And since this is an American story, Ms. Yi’s conversion will come about in the quintessentially American way: as the result of a road trip.

An unconvincing mash-up of the real and the fake, “Paper Heart” wavers between identities to no clear purpose and to its considerable creative detriment. The clumsy premise follows Ms. Yi and a director (named Nick Jasenovec but played by Jake Johnson) as they solicit love stories from a variety of regular Americans, most of whom are delightful and none of whom appears to be in on the movie’s meta-joke. Rather these segments, cherry-picked to enhance a loosely predetermined narrative (by Ms. Yi and Mr. Jasenovec), serve chiefly as props for a scripted romance between the leading lady and the actor Michael Cera, an attachment so tentative and pathologically gawky that it’s almost painful to watch.

Your enjoyment of “Paper Heart” will hinge almost entirely on your receptiveness to Ms. Yi and the extreme iteration of social awkwardness she represents. Either naturally or as a manufactured comic persona (there’s really no way to tell), she appears to be 23 going on 12. (When she dons a wedding dress, she’s like a little girl playing dress-up.) Wearing a permanently baffled expression and a succession of androgynous jeans and hoodies, she shuffles through the movie without acting ability or, it seems, basic survival skills. Lost in the aisles of a supermarket, she and Mr. Cera (who have been romantically linked in real life) are as helpless as kittens; you would think neither had seen packaged food before. Their extreme lack of sophistication is faintly disturbing, like a real-life example of one of Al Franken’s “lowered expectations” skits from an old “Saturday Night Live.”

Aggravatingly self-aware, “Paper Heart” achieves focus only in the engagingly candid, no-frills interviews. “I originally wanted to shoot a documentary because I felt the interview subjects were more interesting than me,” Ms. Yi explains in the press notes. She should have followed her instincts: from a judge in Texas to bikers in Oklahoma City, from a wedding-chapel proprietor in Las Vegas to a wryly affectionate gay couple in New York City, the interviewees are by turns funny, earnest and effortlessly touching. Illustrated by occasional snippets of charmingly primitive puppetry, their contributions cry out for the embrace of an authentic nonfiction film. Too bad no one was listening.

“Paper Heart” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Adult language and infantile behavior.

PAPER HEART

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Nick Jasenovec; written by Charlyne Yi and Mr. Jasenovec; director of photography, Jay Hunter; edited by Ryan Brown; music by Ms. Yi and Michael Cera; produced by Sandra Murillo and Elise Salomon; released by Overture Films. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes.

WITH: Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera (themselves) and Jake Johnson (Nick Jasenovec).

Paper Heart

If you're one of those people who's terminally allergic to the thing we call quirk, stay far, far away from Paper Heart . It's a movie dominated by the wide open, guileless smile of actress Charlyne Yi, one in which crude paper puppets re-enact scenes from couples' lives and Michael Cera plays a large role.

But Paper Heart is also a strong argument against writing off quirk entirely, given how many small delights there are in its shaggy faux-documentary frame. Ostensibly a story about a girl named Charlyne who falls in love while also traveling the country to interview people about love, Paper Heart is a far more complex arrangement of half-truths and outright fiction, combining the open honesty of the documentary subjects with a carefully crafted Hollywood romance that, put together, hit all the right notes. It's easy to spend the whole time trying to figure out what really happened and what didn't, but it's far more interesting to just be captivated.

In fact, even the parts of the film that are the most honest involve a little tweaking. Charlyne (ostensibly a character played by Yi, though the overlaps seem to be significant) is traveling the country to interview everyday people about their experiences of love. She's accompanied by her director, Nick, who is supposedly Paper Heart 's actual director Nick Jasenovec, but is actually an actor named Jake Johnson . Seriously, just go with it.

Charlyne interviews everyone from a lawyer-judge couple in Amarillo, Texas to a bar full of bikers, a lonely millionaire in Memphis to a bunch of kids on a playground in Atlanta. The stories she gets are almost always touching, even the jokes from the biker about beating his wife; they have the quality of a This American Life radio story, in which small and huge truths come out in a matter-of-fact way that suggest, hey, that's life.

Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, Charlyne meets a guy named Michael (Michael Cera, again, supposedly playing a character), and they begin an awkward courtship made even more awkward by the fact that Nick has decided that their relationship is part of the documentary. As we watch this relationship grow between two people who were often rumored to have been dating in real life, we're made acutely aware of the fact that we're intruders on their personal lives. And then we remember that the filmmakers have been very honest about the fact that these scenes are scripted. It's all very complicated.

Much of the movie's depth comes from the viewer's mental gymnastics, trying to figure out what's real and what's not and questioning how much it matters in the process. The central problem that Charlyne is trying to solve from the outset-- she doesn't believe in love-- turns out to be more of a red herring. There's no lightning bolt realization at the end, nor do Charlyne and Michael ever admit they are in love, but the endless examples of lasting, true love in all the interview subjects is all the argument you need. The movie doesn't cover divorced couples, or arguing couples; even the engaged 17-year-olds get a free pass. Charlyne never admits it, but the movie is so enamored with the examples of love it has found that it's impossible for anyone to remain a cynic.

Paper Heart is fundamentally a small movie, plumbing only minor insights from both its documentary subjects and its main character. But the documentary aspect makes it feel less self-indulgent and wasteful than it might have, while the love story at the center gives it the cuddly feel of a more traditional romance. The quirk occasionally walks right up to the line of unbearable, but it's Paper Heart 's unabashedly bared soul that saves it in the end.

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend

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• DVD & Streaming

Paper Heart

• Comedy , Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• August 7, 2009
• Charlyne Yi as Charlyne Yi; Michael Cera as Michael Cera; Jake M. Johnson as Nicholas Jasenovec

Home Release Date

• December 1, 2009
• Nicholas Jasenovec

Distributor

• Overture Films

Positive Elements   |   Spiritual Elements   |   Sexual & Romantic Content   |   Violent Content   |   Crude or Profane Language   |   Drug & Alcohol Content   |   Other Noteworthy Elements   | Conclusion

Movie Review

Paper Heart is a movie about love. It’s appropriate, then, that its structure feels like first love itself: sweet, awkward and incredibly perplexing.

This is a somewhat scripted movie about an unscripted documentary. Or more precisely, about the making of a documentary. Sort of. Comedian Charlyne Yi plays herself traveling around the country asking folks about love. Her interviewees range from biologists to romance writers, from neighborhood kids to old married couples, from divorce court judges to Elvis impersonators.

Some of that doesn’t seem to be scripted. But this part is: While making her doc, Charlyne meets Michael Cera (played by Michael Cera) and falls—well, if not head over heels, at least head over shoulders for the guy. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that the documentary crew—led by Paper Heart director Nicholas Jasenovec (who is not actually played by Nicholas Jasenovec)—is watching their every move.

Think of all of this as a piece of performance art—an ever-so-clever postmodern satire on the nature of reality in the digital age. Odd, isn’t it, that with all the texting and tweeting and blogging and reality showing we’re all engaged with these days, “reality” itself is as elusive as ever. Paper Heart takes aim at our 21st century fixation on ourselves and explores how ever-present documentary crews, rather than capturing reality, skew it.

Indeed, even this bit of satire bled into real life: Charlyne and Michael, we now know, have always been “just friends,” but the film’s makers were intentionally coy about whether there was something more between the onscreen couple—sparking strange tabloid rumors. Star confidently exclaimed at one point that Michael had broken up with Charlyne to date other women.

“Charlyne is beyond sad,” an unnamed source told the supermarket staple. “And the break up is so much harder because she’ll have to see him on tour.”

Could that be true?!

Enter the puppets. Yes, the puppets . Charlyne’s real-life interview subjects narrate critical moments in their relationships as handmade paper figurines mimic the action onscreen.

Confused yet? Well, if you’ve ever been in love, you know the feeling.

Positive Elements

As proudly postmodern as this film is, it’s also perhaps cinema’s first post -postmodern romance. Though Charlyne launches the film as a cynic, and there are many ironic flourishes throughout, its heart, paper though it may be, is unflinching in its sincerity.

Because while Charlyne is skeptical, her interviewees are not. In the affairs of men and maids, these folks are true believers, and many of them walk the talk.

Charlyne interviews a bevy of couples who’ve been married for 50 years—and still seem as in love with each other as the day they first met. “If you really love ’em, it gets better all the time,” says one. The first 50 years felt just like two or three, says another. Meanwhile, members of a biker gang boisterously proclaims that familial, sacrificial, platonic love is superior to all other forms. A romance novelist says her readers know if characters are really in love when one makes a massive sacrifice for another. Even one of the biologists Charlyne talks with, who contends love is largely a product of evolution and our drive to reproduce, concludes his thoughts by saying, “Somehow, there’s a little bit of magic to it, too.”

Many interviewees opine that couples these days are too willing to chuck it all. “When I took those vows,” laments a divorced man, “for me, it was for life.” A happily married woman says that “we’re not a very patient society,” and that when things get rough, we’re sadly more apt to “just give up.”

Love manifests itself in less healthy ways here, as well. But let’s be clear. Charlyne is on a quest for real, idyllic love—not infatuation, not sex. And most of the folks she talks with seem to understand that the ingredients that make love stick include mutual understanding, sacrifice, friendship and commitment.

Spiritual Elements

When a biker offers Charlyne a chance to ride on the back of his Harley, he asks her if she knows any Catholic prayers. She says, as she climbs aboard, “Please, God, let me live.”

A couple of interviewees wear conspicuous crosses around their necks. Charlyne and her director sit in on a wedding service presided over by a minister.

Charlyne visits a medium, who “reads” the comedian’s fortune with faded Tarot cards.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi have both acted for raunchmeister Judd Apatow (in Superbad and Knocked Up , respectively), so one might expect this joint effort to be a crass, graphic mess.

But Paper Heart ‘s central love story is strangely sweet, almost innocent. It takes half the movie for the two “lovers” to hold hands, and their first (and only) shared kiss is an awkward smooch over a box of pizza. Walking down the street, they begin to talk about doing “the thing”—which proves to be simply running as fast as they can to get away from the television crew. They IM each other. They buy an accordion together. She writes a song that says Michael “smells like Christmas” and suggests (in the song) that he hold her tight. Neither of them talk about sex, and there’s no intimation they ever engage in it.

This is not to say the film steers completely clear of the subject. There’s talk of others making out. Charlyne interviews a homosexual couple who admit they had sex on their second date. “We’re gay,” says one, tongue-in-cheek. “That’s what we do.”

Some people talk about what attracted them to their significant others: One woman says that she ignored her future husband until the day he drove up in a Harley Davidson and tight blue jeans. Another says he first hit on his future wife when she still had a boyfriend (“If they’re not married or engaged, they’re fair game”).

We see the exposed breast of a biology mannequin.

Violent Content

A kid on the playground gets smacked upside the head by a playmate. A biker tells Charlyne he has a love-hate relationship with his wife: “I love to beat her, and she hates the beatings,” he says. “That’s a joke.”

Oh, and some of Charlyne’s puppets engage in dangerous activities: One nearly drowns in a raging river. (We see his little paper face contorted in a hand-drawn scream.) Other puppets lead police on a high-speed, bullet-riddled chase. (We see the bullets float through the air on strings; one punctures a motorcycle gas tank whereupon an explosion sends puppets flying through the air.)

Crude or Profane Language

Two s-words. God’s name is misused a half-dozen times. “H—,” “b–tard” and “a–” make cameo appearances.

Drug & Alcohol Content

Nick pretends to smoke and actually smokes a cigarette. Several folks drink beer at a party. Michael asks Charlyne if she’s high or still OK to drive, though there’s no indication that either have taken anything that might make them high.

Charlyne says she once dated someone she thought was really mysterious, partly because of the dark circles under his eyes. “Then I realized he was on drugs,” she adds.

Other Noteworthy Elements

A few characters make light of marriage: One Las Vegas chapel proprietor tells a story of how a groom didn’t know his soon-to-be bride’s last name. Another chaplain remembers the time when a groom, as the ceremony got to the vows, flipped a coin before he said “I do.”

A handful of elementary-age girls proclaim their undying love for R&B star Chris Brown.

Felonious puppets walk off into the sunset—with the puppet police’s blessing.

“All of my ideas about love come from movies and fairy tales,” Charlyne tells us. And Paper Heart , through its minimalist approach to the subject, helps illustrate how far apart the romance we see in film and the love we experience in life are.

Movies and fairy tales teach us that love is revealed in a kiss, or in the explosion of fireworks, or in a violin-laden background score. And some of the people who appear in this film show evidence that they believe it. One couple married 50 years encourage Charlyne to “wait for the lightning bolt,” even as they acknowledge that love sometimes takes years to flourish. A newly married couple—still in high school and still in their wedding clothes—tell Charlyne that “you just gotta go with what feels right.”

We all know the odds are stacked against that young couple. What “feels” right now doesn’t always feel the same tomorrow or 20 years later, and lifelong relationships need to have more at their core. Charlyne seems to understand this better than most. And yet, she’s still hoping for that bolt of lightning.

In the end, she imagines herself and Michael speeding down the highway on a Harley—two rebels sustained only by … what? Charlyne admitted earlier that she’s not in love with Michael, but perhaps, she thinks, they’re still on the road searching for it. Life and love, she tells us, is all about risk, “and I, Charlyne Yi, am taking that risk!”

That ending, frankly, feels too pat, considering the complexities of the love stories she’s learned about during her journey.

Sure, love is risky. Love is exciting. Love sometimes does hit us like a electrical blast. But it’s more than that, too. Charlyne, on her sweet, disarming—confusing—cross-country search for it, comes close to finding the truth. But she doesn’t go quite far enough.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Paper Heart Review

06 Nov 2009

Paper Heart

How cute is this movie? Totally! Adorable stand-up and musician Charlyne Yi doesn’t believe in love.

So she embarks on a whimsical road trip across America to find out what love is. Bikers, gay couples, scientists, elderly couples, starry-eyed teens, romance novelists, her pal Seth Rogen, and a Vegas Elvis impersonator offer musings on that happy state that leave her more bewildered. But when Michael Cera starts wooing her, her scepticism wavers in this captivating mix of documentary and mockumentary that plays with what’s real and what’s fantasy. You really want them to be a couple, they are that darling, in a heart-warmer to make a cynic grin.