Column:

Charlyne Yi carries 'Paper Heart' forward with charm

Interviews with real people show more heart than the typical romance.

By Thomas Leonard

Published Sept. 22, 2009

When it comes to romantic comedies, the sappy or the stupid usually win at the box office (see this week's Jennifer Aniston train wreck "Love Happens," or actually, don't). But "Paper Heart" is a quirky, funny and adorable piece of American storytelling, reminding audiences that movies can still tackle the boy-meets-girl tale with originality and heart.

Screenwriter and star Charlyne Yi (who you've seen as the kooky stoner girlfriend in "Knocked Up") plays opposite Michael Cera (of the same Judd Apatow comedy brand) as the young lovers inhabiting this offbeat mockumentary peppered with interviews, confessionals and puppet sequences. Clearly, this is a far cry from typical Jen Aniston fare.

That's exactly what's so loveable about "Paper Heart." Even when the comedy is too forced or the quintessential Michael Cera awkwardness too awkward, you stick with it because there's just so much, well, heart.

We begin with a mockumentary centering on Yi's inability to understand love. She takes off cross-country to find out what love really means, and it's a treat to see what she finds along the way.

This buoyant first act will without a doubt put a smile on your face. Yi is basically playing herself here, an endearing realist who is at once charming but guarded. A real-life veteran of stage performance (her stand-up includes original music, puppetry and magic), Yi is a natural in these early documental vignettes. She is taught a lesson in the brain chemistry of love by a university professor, learns about sexuality from a romance novelist and interviews a group of Atlanta school children about their view of romantic love.

The most affecting of these scenes is a series of interviews with real couples across the country — from two gay men in New York to two bikers in Oklahoma — about what love means to them. These moments are genuinely funny, poignantly honest and often a really touching look at love, American style.

Unfortunately, this rewarding mockumentary becomes muddled with the arrival of Michael Cera and his proceeding fictional romance with Yi. Although the two young stars give it their all, this routinely awkward dork-romance just doesn't hold a candle to the quirky first hour.

As the relationship becomes more involved, attention is taken largely from the mockumentary and we're suckered into a harder to watch movie about awkward people in awkward relationships. Here, the interview segments become the saving grace holding the film together. These truthful gems keep the movie worth watching, even throughout the rough patches.

"Paper Heart" never fully regains its strength and its less than sweet finale will likely leave some viewers scratching their head. Despite the second act flaws, "Paper Heart" is ultimately worth it. It's an undeniably original romp across America through the eyes of perpetually adorable Charlyne Yi.

Her warm persona is what carries this film, and it's her personal touches of puppets, music, goofball humor and relating to real people that make it all so watchable. "Paper Heart" is a refreshingly honest take on romance that you just can't help but love.

Yi and friends will surely tug at your heartstrings, or at least tap your funny bone. See this one of a kind date flick at Ragtag Cinema this week.