Paper Heart (film)

Charlyne Yi embarks on a quest across America to answer, "What is love?". She and director Nick search for answers and advice about love.

Yi asks people on the street as well as celebrities like Seth Rogen, Demetri Martin, bikers, romance novelists, children, and scientists to share their opinions and understanding of love. Each interview subject offer diverse views on modern romance, as well as various answers to the question of whether true love really exists.

Shortly after filming begins, Yi has a "chance meeting" with Michael Cera (playing a fictionalised version of himself) at a party. He begins to take an interest in her, and they get more comfortable with each other as the camera crew and director follow them around. As they go across the country, Yi and Cera begin dating.

A docufiction, there are three actors in this film. Jake M. Johnson is the only one who plays a role, a fictionalized version of Nicholas Jasenovec, the director of this film (the real Jasenovec does not appear on camera). Yi and Cera play fictionalized versions of themselves, while the remaining interview subjects and characters play themselves. Real couples talk about their own definitions of love. Stop-motion animation segments accompany some interview subjects' anecdotes about love.

The end credits feature a song performed by Yi.

• Lo Mutuc as herself
• Michael Cera as himself
• Jake Johnson as Nicholas Jasenovec

Cameos

• Seth Rogen
• Demetri Martin
• Martin Starr
• Derek Waters
• Paul Rust
• Paul Scheer

Paper Heart premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited release on August 7, 2009, in the United States and Canada, making $1,296,971.^[1] The film was released on Blu-ray on December 1, 2009, by Anchor Bay Entertainment.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

"Everything with Charlyne, Mike and I was fictional, and everything on the road is real."^[14] — Jake Johnson

"a few of the interviews were people she stumbled into. Most of them a “casting director from a reality series” found for her. But the Cera romance thing she’s a little more cagey about."^[15] — Orlando Sentinel

"It's an extremely irritating, narcissistic picture, far inferior to Henry Jaglom's not dissimilar Someone to Love."^[16] — The Observer

"Originally it was going to be a traditional documentary, and my idea was just to capture true love stories"^[17] — Charlyne Yi

Paper Heart holds a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 111 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Equal parts charming and refreshing, Paper Heart is a quirky mockumentary led by the endearing Charlyne Yi."^[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[19]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying the question of how much of Yi and Cera's personas are real and how much is scripted give the film "an intriguing quality on top of its intrinsic appeal".^[20] Sarah Cohen of Time Out wrote, "On the surface, this is a perfectly serviceable cutesy rom-com. 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."^[21] Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News wrote, "Though often twee and self-congratulatory, Charlyne Yi’s biographical docudrama is just sweet enough to endear itself to those with a romantic bent."^[22] Katey Rich of Cinema Blend said "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", and commented, "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."^[23]

Quick facts Soundtrack album by Various Artists, Released ...

Paper Heart: Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released	August 4, 2009 (2009-08-04)
Length	41:00
Label	Lakeshore
Producer	Alden Penner

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The soundtrack of Paper Heart was released on August 4, 2009, by Lakeshore Records and contains music composed primarily by Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi. Alden Penner was the producer.