If you're going to watch Paper Heart, stop right here. The less you know the better. Pause. So if you've seen it already, you probably thought it was pretty cute, that Charlyne Yi was charming, and Michael Cera was his usual Cera-like self. All true things. Overall it was an entertaining movie and I quite enjoyed the experience and rather liked Yi's fidgety persona and humor.
But I have a few bones to pick with the idealized version of love they depict. Or at least the people they chose to talk about love. All platitudes about "you'll know love when it hits you, love is personal sacrifice, love is when you care more about someone more than yourself, blah blah blah." I might have added one of those messages in. Either way, for a mockumentary that purports to find out what exactly falling in love is, this film doesn't present anything new. It kind of sets the question back a few decades actually.
The final message is sort of feel good and Paper Heart is probably a good date movie but it's pretty useless as a think piece. I think I learned more from say, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," which isn't saying that much.
And now I'm all confused about if Yi and Cera actually dated in real life. Reports are they never did, even though I walked into the movie thinking they were already deep in a relationship as they were filming. I'd love to see an actual documentary about falling in love, but that would probably be pretty depressing when the answer still ends up being "who knows?"
