
In the beginning of the flick, Yi admits that she’s never believed in love, no matter footage of her as a child making her dolls get married says differently. So, Yi sets out across the country to interview couples and see if she can figure out exactly what love is. Her interviews with regular folks—rowdy bikers, Elvis wedding officiants and long-time couples—are intertwined with a fictional account of a relationship developing between Yi and George Michael Bluth…er…we mean Michael Cera. No wait, we mean that dude from Superbad. Aw, screw it; they’re all the same, no matter how cute and awkward they are. Anyhoo…some people might believe these scenes are also part of the documentary given how spontaneous they feel; however, given recent reports that Yi and Cera broke up—oh, wait, no they never “ever dated”—there is no doubt that these scenes are faked.
But in spite of all of the manipulation and awkward scenes Paper Heart is still a cute movie and worth your hard-earned cash. The real-life interviews are incredibly sweet and would make anyone in the audience believe in love, even if Yi claims to not know it. And, after each interview, Yi has created homemade, crafty dioramas and paper (ha, get it?) dolls that reenact a story from the interview. These cutesy segments are very inventive and creative and almost make up for the falsification the faux-narrative piles on.
All in all, Paper Heart is just what the title suggests—it may be cute to look at, but it’s ultimately superficial and fleeting.
--Darcie Duttweiler