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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: December 1, 2009 Distributor: Anchor Bay Director: · Nick Jasenovec Cast: · Charlyne Yi · Jake Johnson · Michael Cera Related Sites: · IMDb: Paper Heart Grade: B+

“Paper Heart” is an interesting project, being a faux-documentary with real interviews and documentary footage, juxtaposed with a constructed love story where the leading lovers play themselves, while an actor portrays the director of the film. If this sounds confusing, rest assured that the experience of watching the film is nothing of the sort, proving somewhat twee and meandering but also convincing and quite amusing at times.

The subject here is that of love, with idiosyncratic comedian Charlyne Yi asking passers-by on a Vegas strip what they think of love. While most blow her off, laugh, or make an ignorant comment, Yi maintains her oddly affable persona, which is that of low key, soft-spoken engagement, as opposed to satire. Really, the only time that Yi appears to be mocking her subject is when a fellow yells something incoherent about a sports team into her microphone, which spurns a rather amusing facial expression on Ms. Yi’s part, saying far more than a sarcastic retort might.

In the midst of travelling around the country exploring love while maintaining a cynical perspective on it herself, and arguing with her collaborator/director Nick Jasenovec (Jake Johnson), Yi meets and subsequently starts dating actor Michael Cera. As many know, the young couple were dating prior to production of this film, breaking up during its publicity tour, leaving the convincing, but entirely made up, on screen relationship development somewhat odd.

While Yi’s presence keeps the film within copasetic territory for the duration, there really isn’t much going on beyond a cutesy premise. Yi’s interviews don’t dispel any real wisdom beyond the notion that love is rare and culturally romanticized, which is something she knew going in. Of course, aside from a seemingly awkward flub upon Cera and Yi’s meeting, the faux-documentary dynamic remains convincing, with Jasenovec’s uncompromising vision impeding on the nascent central relationship in a frequently uncomfortable manner.

On the DVD supplement front, there is loads of material, from a good half-hour of deleted and extended scenes, to music videos. The latter features, which includes segments from Yi’s stage show, prove charming, with a performance of the song “Heaven”, which Yi and Cera composed for the film.

The “Making of” featurette provides more insights on the concept and coordination of the film, while a gag reel offers exactly what it advertises.

What folks may be most interested in, however, are the promo videos with Paul Rudd, Jason Reitman, Bobcat Goldthwait and so on, which are quite amusing