I originally
posted the poster and trailer for
Paper Heart, starring Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi back in August as a movie I was excited/looking forward to seeing. Well kids, I finally got it on netflix about a 2 weeks ago and I am happy to say it was all I hoped it would be!
I don't know what I liked best about it...I loved the incorporation of the vinigettes of Charlyne Yi with her homemade puppets and action sequences. Just so simple, yet orginal. I loved Charlyne Yi for herself...she was awkward, and great, and in no way your typical leading lady. I have always, and will always, love Michael Cera, no matter how awkward he is or isn't in real life.
Was this movie totally fabricated? maybe. Did Michael and Charlyne really date (for 3 years as rumor has it) in real life, then break up just last year around the time the movie came out? *shrugs*. Those are all fun things to think about, and add to it, but no matter what, if youwatch the movie, and simply take it for what it tries to give you, it is highly enjoyable.
I say this knowing that there are a lot of people...and I can assume A LOT, that probably dislike this movie, find it boring, or find it just plain bad. Once again, nothing I can do about that, but keep watching it myself, and loving it each time.
A review from a user on IMDB:
"As jaded moviegoers obsess over the staginess of Charlyne Yi's encounters with Michael Cera- and no doubt about it, the scenes between the two twenty-something actors are probably closer to Mike Leigh territory(read: Yi and Cera probably created their filmic selves in a workshop) than it is to a proper documentary(or even reality television)- they'll overlook the fact that the budding lovers have chemistry, an elusive component missing from most contemporary romantic comedies. Yi's moonstruck dorkiness is a perfect match for Cera's suave dorkiness. On their first date, Yi's modifications to her BLT(she holds the B) offhandedly recalls Sally Albright's own culinary idiosyncrasies in Nora Ephron's "When Harry Met Sally"(where the high maintenance woman played by Meg Ryan customizes all her means with something "on the side"). Like the 1989 film, we see old couples telling the story of how they met. Donning anti-Lisa Loeb glasses and some downright frumpy outfits, Yi is anything but high maintenance, aggressively so when the filmmaker can't sway his subject towards the hygienic advantages of a daily shower. Far from being a polished interviewer, Yi somehow manages to record some charming stories that proves love's existence. The conceit behind "Paper Heart" is if the performance artist can find some of her very own. Is Cera the one? The former star of the defunct NBC sitcom "Arrested Development" matches Yi's quirkiness(his riff on Mexican Beach Salad gets laughs) and raises it, with an action that renders the reality/fantasy binary moot. Yi, playing a naive version of herself, projects vulnerability effortlessly, and this naivety is put through the wringer, as Cera abruptly leaves the table and walks out of the eatery. The moviegoer feels what Yi feels; complete utter shock, and discomfort, because moviegoers think they know Cera, who transmits kindness and decency in all of his roles that stems from his self-deprecating charisma. The departure feels real; Michael Cera feels real, because he finally plays another note, a dissonant note that counters his stylized persona of serial affability. Maybe, just maybe, Cera had revealed something about himself that he never intended the public to see: he's a Hollywood phony just like all the rest. Meanwhile, back at the table, Yi, a girl who passes herself off as one of the guys, thinks she gets the joke, and waits for Cera to return; she waits for the punchline, and waits and waits and waits. The moviegoers hold his breath for her, even though he's quite certain that the whole premise was planned. Yi somehow cuts through the artifice of the mockumentary, and makes the scene work on the level of romantic comedy. Her naif and waif shtick is convincing. The moviegoer loves her. Time and time again, Yi's natural charm tests the compartmentalizing of the movie's fiction and non-fiction elements, because her sunny projection of arrested development is unwavering in both arenas. Yi doesn't have a journalistic voice, a serious voice that insinuates a formalism upon the interview format when she's probing Americans about love. She turns journalism into a naive craft. The same "character" who spontaneously(we think) accepts a ride from some reminsicing biker she interviews at a geezer hangout, looks and sounds identical to the young woman who waits with bated breath for her date to alleviate her from abandonment anxiety. Only Cera, perhaps, could get away with playing such a mean trick, as he effortlessly ingratiates himself into Yi's good graces(and ours) by explaining his extended disappearance without being the least bit facetious. He smiles, but it's a sheepish smile; his get out of jail free card.
If Woody Allen wanted to remake "Annie Hall", these two actors would be perfect for the job. "Paper Heart" gets away with a lot. Homemade dioramas are pretty damn twee, but man, those low-rent creations sure are a welcome antidote to the industry's relentless use of CGI effects. Even the twee song works, because the person who sings "You Smell Like Christmas To Me" will capture your paper heart, if you let her."
...And while speaking of Michael Cera, I wanted to go ahead and add this in, because it is GRAND:
