Paper Heart (2009)

Charlyne Yi embarks on a quest across America to make a documentary about the one subject she doesn't fully understand: Love.

Director:

Nicholas Jasenovec

Writers:

Nicholas Jasenovec, Charlyne Yi

Stars:

Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, Jake Johnson

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlyne Yi	...	Self
Michael Cera	...	Michael Cera
Jake Johnson	...	Nicholas Jasenovec (as Jake M. Johnson)
Gill Summers	...	Self
Martin Starr	...	Self
Seth Rogen	...	Self
Demetri Martin	...	Self
Luciano Yi	...	Self
Lydia Yi	...	Self
Mike Modrak	...	Self
Bill Hase	...	Self
Matthew Craig	...	Self
Donald Skinner-Noble	...	Self
Derek Waters	...	Self
Matthew Bass	...	Self

Storyline

Charlyne Yi embarks on a quest across America to make a documentary about the one subject she doesn't fully understand: Love. Michael Cera becomes the object of her affection. Weaving together reality and fantasy, Paper Heart combines elements of documentary and traditional storytelling to get at modern romance.

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Plot Keywords:

french fry | oklahoma city oklahoma | billiards | billiard table | toronto ontario | 

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Taglines:

A story about love that's taking on a life of its own.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charlene's guitar that is featured mostly in the special features is a pink Danelectro '59M NOS.

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Quotes

Seth Rogen: Your love glass is half full.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits finish rolling, there is a quick scene of the Elvis preacher pointing to the camera and saying "Thank you very much."

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Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Underrated Rom-Com Couples (2018)

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Soundtracks

Harpoon Fever
Performed by Man Man

User Reviews

A Controversial Movie

As you may have noticed with all the comments, this movie might be mediocre, terrible, great, or some weird combo. I'm one of those who think this was a great movie, but I hope to explain the discrepancies.

First, let's get my biases out of the way, so that you can judge my comment accordingly. I am a Michael Cera fan. I am an indie movie fan, but not an aficionado. I wanted to see this movie. I'm a young guy who likes some romantic movies, but they have to be rather good. I didn't know anything about this movie aside from what the trailer tells me. I think that does it.

A lot of the comments on IMDb about this movie center around the format. I agree that the style is important to talk about, but not the only thing. The style is documentary, but with certain deviating aspects. It isn't Blair Witch Project; it has decent editing and lighting. The angle is natural, all from a guy or three carrying cameras. Certain scenes are done in paper cutouts in paper scenery and wires for movement. These are usually the scenes that they didn't catch on camera and are important to the plot. These scenes are really charming because of their scale and their construction.

The "acting" is also good. The most controversial aspect of this movie is the content, or the plot. Some think that this movie is either simply an observation of life or a movie about an observation of life. Either real or reel, some might say. I tend towards some middle ground. I think that this movie is a documentary about real life including a documentary about real life. There are staged things and things that look really genuine, so I think that it's more of an embellished real story. The cynic in me thinks that a lot of it is fake, but they did a really convincing job so I hope its all real.

If you are an optimist, this story will be really cute and lovable. If you believe it to be faked, it's a bad movie. That is why I think it is mostly genuine, if not completely. If this was produced in any really directed way, it would not have included some things in it that it did. But then again, they could have included it to make you think that. Whether you're paranoid about that sort of thing is beside the point. This movie feels very real. I know some of my dates were almost exactly like some in this movie. Charlyne is believable and so is Michael Cera.

Michael Cera plays a really cool guy with a cute awkward disposition. If you're a fan of Michael Cera, you'll recognize his characteristic style, but now I believe that style to be more of just how he is instead of an acting style. Regardless, he's endearing. Charlyne is also really lovable because she's funny and easily embarrassed. The two are quite genuine and work really well together because of their similar personalities.

Overall, a cute and lovable movie. The ending is unsatisfactory, but that's because there is no end that would fit the story and remain truthful to real life.

Details

Official Sites:

Overture Films

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paper Heart

Filming Locations:

Bowlin's Flying C Ranch I-40 Exit 234, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$219,494, 9 August 2009

Gross USA:

$1,274,062

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,296,971

Company Credits

Production Co:

Overture Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Paper Heart Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1