Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Paper Heart

Top positive review

Amazing light hearted movie

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 October 2019

I first saw this film on Amazon prime, then was so impressed by it that I bought the dvd.
It's a really great comedy romance movie that keeps you entertained the whole way through.
I thourghly recommend this film.

Top critical review

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Findlay

Awkward and boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 September 2011

Michael Cera is awkward enough on his own, but add Charlyne Yi and it was just embarrassing to watch.
Documentary styles can be good, but when it involved two awkward/geeky actors and the topic of love...-shudder-

one movie that will be watched once, and never again.

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linea

Uninspiring, artificial, clichéd and ultimately pointless.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 July 2010

Paper Heart is a fake documentary in which Charlyne Yi, (playing herself), is making a film with Nicholas Jasenovec, (played by an actor), asking others about the meaning of love, while she admits herself to never being in love.
While on her fake journey across America interviewing minor celebrities and members of the public, (most of which are actors), about their stories and views on love she meets the actor Michael Cera. The pair embark on a series of dates which are filmed as part of Charlyne's documentary, though as their relationship develops the pair become tired of their time together being constantly filmed by director Nicholas.
Despite the fact the idea behind the story is a complete rip off of the low budget indie 'Four Eyed Monsters', 'Paper Heart' as a film just doesn't work. While mockumentaries can often be quite good it helps if they actually have the feel of a real documentary, 'Paper Heart' just looks like a regular film, in which the cast are playing versions of themselves in a documentary. There is no shakey camera work, no unintentional glances at the camera and no awkward dialogue and the whole film is far too polished to pass itself off as being a low budget documentary made by three people.
The relationship between Charlyne and Michael is completely unbelievable, despite the pair both being in their twenties and Cera, (who remember is supposed to be playing himself), being an accomplished Hollywood actor the pair act like a two 14 year olds in their first relationship.
Overall, the whole film feels artificial, staged and hollow and even the most die hard Michael Cera fans will struggle to find any enjoyment from this. The only reason this gets more than one star is that the 'Modly Peaches' style song sung by Charlyne during the film was quite good and the scene where you pretty much see Michael Cera's heart breaking on camera was nicely done, apart from that it's one to miss.

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This Thing Called "Love"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 February 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

'Paper Heart' is a nice enough diversion
for as long as it lasts (approx 84 minutes).

Charlyne Li is looking to understand what love is and
travels around the USA asking a motley assortment of
characters about their experiences and opinions with
regard to her elusive subject.
The power of the cameos of both believers and non-believers
are, however, somewhat diminished by the heavy-handed editing
and irritating animated interludes. An unnecessary conceit.

The drama within the drama - the (will they or won't they?) story
of romance between Li and Michael Cera (reprising the geeky but
affable character of Paulie Bleeker in 'Juno'), is, apparently, a
commentary on a (did they or didn't they?) rumoured real-life
relationship. Confused? I was too for a while.

In the end, the success of any film relies on its protagonists
drawing us into the narrative and making us feel something.
Call me hard-hearted but I did not like Ms Li enough to care
about the outcome. Her laugh, in particular, set my teeth on edge.

The trite and disconnected conclusion is just plain silly.

Did we learn anything about l'amour at the end of the day?

'On Golden Pond', for my money, still has
the power to teach us all we need to know!

One person found this helpful

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is there any love left in America?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 February 2010

If you are going to look for love in America it is not advisable to take a camera crew, an actor from a famous and acclaimed film (Juno) to be your boyfriend and to give a vestige of credibility to the project and another actor (never seen him before) as your director (as well as the actual director who gets into shot more than is necessary and adds to the confusion anyway)

Miss Yi is possibly the most irritating person I have ever seen in a recent film and there is no way she would have elicited the interview material she got had there not been a camera waggling about. Her interview skills are those of a High School girl, indeed the whole film resembles a student of media studies final year project.

There is really nothing here to recommend. It is self-indulgent and if in the school of Borat or Louis Theroux it fails dismally on almost every level. I had a really difficult job watching it to the end withoout fast-forwarding

I can only assume that the embarrassment was genuine since that is the only emotion I was left with.

One person found this helpful

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Marco Rossini

Is this a documentary or a story?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I'm afraid this one wasn't for me, as I couldn't see any story line if it's not a documentary. A girl searches for the meaning of love, as she says she's never fallen in love, which is OK, but the way the film goes on was, in my view, not so convincing, even if this is a documentary. She interviews people from all walks of life, men or women, young or old, intellectuals or ideots, about this eternal subject, but I'm afraid I couldn't see it was going anywhere.

I liked the main young actress, Charlyne Yi, who played this girl as she handled the situation well when the interviewees are getting a bit difficult, and she was always cheerful, but that was the only positive aspect I could say.

Maybe for some people from a yonger generation can have a different perspective and find this type of film a lot more entertaining than I did, but I'd rather watch films with a slightly clearer story line and ups and downs.

One person found this helpful

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G. E. Harrison

A joke that just doesn't work...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

I think the main reason this spoof "hybrid" documentary doesn't work is Charlyne Yi - she just isn't engaging enough to hold the centre of the film. I liked both Michael Cera and Jake Johnson (who plays director Nicholas Jasenovich) but Yi appears to have had a personality bypass. I can't believe her job description of "comedienne, musician, writer, painter and actress" - she certainly isn't funny, she didn't seem very musical (although I liked her Danelectro guitar) and she seemed completely incapable of improvising any meaningful dialogue. And yet the film apparently won an award for screenwriting at the Sundance Film Festival!?!

I quite enjoyed the sequences featuring 'members of the public' talking about 'love' and their experiences and also the crudely animated (but a bit too self-aware) dramas but otherwise this was a joke that didn't quite work (or I just didn't get).

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Very poor and uninteresting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Half documentary - half rom-com, this film follows comedian Charlyne Yi and her crew as she tries to look deeper into whether true love exists and what love is (not being a believer in love herself). Whilst filming she meets fellow comedian Michael Cera who (unsurprisingly) she falls in love with.

I'm not against rom-coms, in fact I quite enjoy them, and I also love documentaries, but this was so predictable and unexciting I was getting bored within the first 20 minutes or so. I did stick with it to the end though but to be honest, this was a real waste of 90 minutes. The only bit I did like was the parts with the paper love stories (which I think is the reason for the films title) but other than that this film is awful. These actors are all terrible, even Cera who is usually pretty funny in other films I've seen him in but I really wouldn't even recommend this film for a rent. Avoid!

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N. Gratton

I kept cringing while watching this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 March 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Paper Heart is certainly not your usual film. It's a faux-documentary (Spinal Tap comparisons etc. etc.) following comedienne cynical Charylne Yi on a quest to discover if true love exists and what it is.
Her interviews with assorted people, mostly couples, are the most genuine and interesting part of the movie. The parts following Charylne and Michael Cera are not. Both of them come across not only as embarrassed, but also embarrassing to watch (I really did cringe), and the whole thing played out oh ... so ... slowly. The ending was too much of an anti-climax.
Having watched it, I honestly can't decide if it was worth it or not... so perhaps it's best to make up your own mind. On rental.

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Cat

Not worth two hours of your time unless your a Yi fan.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 June 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Quirky Charlyne Yi, the stoner chick with the odd voice in Knocked Up gets her own vehicle...and honestly, I didn't make it through the whole film. Being a huge Michael Cera fan, from Arrested Development up the his latest Youth in Revolt, I had high hopes for this mockumentary about love, and why Charlyne doesn't believe in it. The truth is though, she is not an engaging protagonist. She's an acquired taste, just not mine.

If you're a fan of Charlyne, take a chance on this film. If you're a fan of Cera, its hardly worth it.

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Straightforward

(2.5 stars) Overall - WARNING - Charlyne Yi is very irritating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

This film pretends to be a documentary where the central character sets out to find what love is, but then lapses into an improvised drama involving her and an actor called Michael Cera, who plays himself.

The main problems are:

1) Charlyne Yi (the central girl character) has a very annoying voice. She interviews many people about love, but seems unable to relate to them in any way. She freezes habitually when they say anything at all surprising, and resorts to ".....ok...."

2) She is too self-obsessed to be of any cinematic interest, as she doesn't reveal much about herself and doesn't develop much.

3) The script (according to the 'making of...' on the extras) was meant to be mostly improvisation - similar to 'Curb your Enthusiasm' for example - but she is unable to provide any improvisation skills that might have taken the scenes somewhere interesting. She constantly complains that she can't find love, but when the opportunity is there, she doesn't explore it at all.

The other characters are fine, but the best parts of the film consist of the testimonies by members of public on how they found love. They are illustrated with animated paper cutouts that work very well.

The extras are only enjoyable if you liked the film, although the interviews with comedians were mildly distracting.

2 people found this helpful

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Cheshire Cat

Not quite hitting the mark

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2010

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Opinions on films are just that, one person's opinion and fortunately we are all different to a degree.

So with thht understanding, I have to say that this film missed the mark for us. It didn't seen quite sure whether it was a documentary or a conventional film and the acting (if one can call performances in a docu-film acting?)left us feeling it was a bit disjointed and not clear as to its reason for being.

BUT my late teens niece loved it! So I would suggest that this is one of those films thst really lives and dies by the personal viewpoint of the individual viewer. Would I recommend it? No. Did I dislike it? No. Will I watch it again? No.

Purchase on the basis that this is an unconventional work and be prepared to either love it or hate it.

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5 star		47%
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