Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Paper Heart

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.

Helpful

A slightly staged docu-soap movie - gentle, fun and interesting rather than gripping

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2010

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

This movie is filmed as if it is a proper documentary of stand-up comic Charlyne Li's search for love, both as to the meaning of human love and whether Charlyne herself to will ever find 'true love'. All the interviews with her friends and people she meets while filming seem quite genuine and I'm sure it's her real parents who we meet at the beginning [if it's not, at least they are very convincing]. Apparently Charlyne doesn't believe in 'love' or at least the Hollywood mythology of love. It seems she 'loves' her parents, so we have to assume her quest is more about love and marriage, i.e. finding a man, falling in love, and forming a life-long partnership. Most of the males Charlyne meets seem a bit ordinary and not especially good looking [as they mostly have beards or are older than her]. Then enter the young and rather dishy Michael Cera [aged 21] - reprising his subdued 'Juno' role rather than the ultra-cool 'Scott Pilgrim [VS the world]'. Giving the alternatives it's perhaps not surprising that Charlyne takes to shine to Michael and a slightly contrived romance develops under the eye of the 'documentary' camera team. Michael and Charlyne meet up and chat between scenes of interviews relating to the search for love. Michael and Charlynes developing relationship appears a bit, well junevile really as the premise of the film is 'first love' and it's associated angst, which is more associated with younger teenagers. Fortunately you could imagine Charlyne and Michael are 16 year old star-crossed lovers if you squint a bit.

The rather separate interviews discussing the nature of love and relationships are with various individuals Charlyne meets when wandering about America. Many are 'friends', while others are guys or even kids she seems to meet when filming. These interspersed interview scenes are quite good [a bit 'Louis Theroux'esque even] and are the best part of the movie. That's not because Michael and Charlyne give poor performances in their romantic interludes, it's just that their 'falling in love' scenes seem a bit contrived and false. Worse still, their scenes are a quite intense and relatively devoid of the humour that often lights up the interview scenes. Fortunately Michael and Charlyne come across as quite well [you kinda have to like them] and some of the cut-out puppet scenes used instead of live performances are fairly interesting in a Sound of Music 'Lonely goat-herd' sort of way. The final scenes have a bit of a philosophical slant, although if you want anything more profound you'd be better off watching the recent kid's cartoon series: 'The legend of Aang: The Last Air-Bender', which incidentally my teenage kids and I rate 6*.

After 45 minutes or so into the film, I did actually get a little bored and skipped through to the end to see what happened. I then skipped backwards through the movie to watch the bits I had missed - to be honest it really doesn't matter if you do that as much of the movie is made up of a sequence of stand-alone interview scenes and it's not a melodrama, just a gentle tale of two nice young people falling in love. Not quite sure why the movies rated 15, there's no unpleasantness at all, although I suppose it's unlikely any 10 year old lad would last 5 minutes watching it. The movie comes across as though it was made by a couple of gifted undergraduates. I'm afraid I rate it just 3* [i.e. C+ for effort] - it's certainly not rubbish though. And it could be said that at the heart of this film [and 'Juno'] is the idea that sparked off Michael Cera's startlingly good new movie 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' - and if that is the case, we should be grateful to Charlyne Li for taking the time to make 'Paper Heart'. Also check out Michael Cera in the superb & similarly themed movies ' Juno [DVD] [2007 ]' and ' Scott Pilgrim vs. The World [DVD ]', movies that my teenage kids and I enjoyed far more than Paper Heart.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Don't expect Superbad 2

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2010

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

In a style reminiscent of "Borat", "Paper Heart" follows Charlyne Yi and her director Nicholas Jasenovich (played Jake Johnson) as she searches to find out about love. This is where it starts to get a little bit confusing as like "Borat," it is hard to tell which parts are genuine and which are staged and I was constantly asking myself, "Is this real?"

Anyway back to the story. 24-year-old Charlyne doesn't believe in love and so she sets out across America (again, note the Borat similarities) to get some different perspectives on love. Early on in the filmmaking, she meets Michael Cera and a romance begins to blossom, changing the focus on the original purpose of the film.

Charlyne interviews many people in different states where they tell their stories about love, which are quite sweet. Many of the couples then tell a story of a significant moment in their life which is re-enacted using card people and backgrounds and although cute, they think they are better than they actually are.

One of the extra's made it clear that it was indeed all a set up and thus lowers the film's success even further, as the script and acting really isn't that good. Yi is a very talented musician as seen in some of the film's extras and I believe this is what she will do best in, in the future.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

GiveMeMangoes

Strange

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 February 2010

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

Okay, although it seems real, this film is actually fictional. Yi and Cera ARE actually a couple in real life, and the interviews with couples in the film are real, but other than that, everyone is acting from a script(written by Yi and the director). Although Im still not sure if the 'friends' in the film are actually real friends of Yi and Cera, or actors.

I guess it's a romantic comedy, but it's a little light on the romance, and also on the comedy to be honest. It's diverting enough, and I liked how different it was - from the endearing ineptitude of Yi, to the childlike puppet-show interludes. There's a lot of creativity here, and alot of optimism, which is infectious. However, it's also disjointed, and not exactly 'crafted' filmmaking - it doesn't really have an ending, so there is another puppet-show scene.

I also still can't decide if I liked the whole pretence of it. Yi plays herself, but her 'friend/director' is played by an actor. They are very convincing as friends, but I don't really see the point - it's as little confusing for the viewer, as you cant really trust the documentary parts, or the story parts.

I think this is worth watching, as it does keep you fairly entertained by it's sheer quirkiness, but I think it could've better. I'm sure their future projects will be.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

A nice little doco-movie about love

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2010

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

It is a documentary cum story cum documentary. It has got a strong theme, good acting and nice camera work. But there is hardly viable story and most of it is about common people's views/babblings about love or how they understand it.

A couple of stories are interesting like this one person who gets his jeep on the stairs so that this girl doesn't get wet in the rain and takes her to her car and then they get married, but mostly these stories are very muddled up. But it's hardly surprising I suppose because that's how most people think about love. A scientist looking person saying that love is part bio-chemistry and part magic is also interesting.

There is some plot development but comes very late in the movie and the characters hardly develop enough, if at all. The main characters are Okish, however the director/producer has got strong expressions in some scenes. The main character of the movie, the girl who is desperately trying to find love, doesn't look that much desperate to me but wearing rubbish clothes throughout was probably just deliberate. I think she is a very good actor and lots of time gives natural expressions, or was it the director, or was it that those kids and people were really saying what they were saying and not actually acting. Anyway this uncertainty is actually the real thing in this documentary cum movie (I call it simply dovie).

A good attempt on creating a movie out of a documentary (or the other way round). Worth watching if want to share random people's view about love (including school kids) and it's isn't so bad either.

Helpful

Celebrating the little love stories of the world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2010

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

Paper Heart is a small film about THE big subject - love. It is an effective antidote to the Hollywood love story formula with a mixture of reality and contrivance that holds together well at least in part due to the gently self-mocking performances of Li and Cera. As Charlyne travels the US and eventually further afield meeting some wonderful (real?) characters on her way, I found myself willingly going along for the ride.

The handmade puppet shows scattered throughout the film are terrific - each telling a love story of sorts and through the exaggerated `marionation' reminding us that people's true simple stories can be just as exotic as any Hollywood depiction of love.

It won't rank amongst my favourite films by any means, but I'll gladly watch it again on a raining Sunday afternoon when I feel like a little gentle cheering...

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Mr. K. Mahoney

Got better as it went along

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2010

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

First of all, I wasn't sure what to make of this film, as it mixes drama and documentary. Charlyne Yi goes on the road with her documentary team all over North America to find out about love, mainly because Charlyne doesn't believe that she'll ever be in love. This isn't admittedly the kind of film that I would ever watch, although I do like independent cinema. So, I was quite disenchanted with the early part of the film, as I didn't really care what happened to Charlyne, and the 'real-life' people she interviewed were not that engaging. But then my thoughts gradually began to change. Charlyne Yi is quite a 'cutesy', quirky kind of character, who is quite likeable. I wasn't a great fan of her would-be love-interest, Michael Cera, at first, but I then realised I was empathising with Charlyne when Michael walked out on her in the restaurant, and during the scenes where she's walking around Paris, despondently alone. I especially liked the poignant interview Charlyne did with two gay guys, and the story about how the the two court workers hitched up was very amusing also. The cardboard theatre animations of lovers' stories also got better as the film went on to its rather explosive finale! I watched this film over a few days, so I grew to very much like Michael Cera's music, which I thought suited an independent film very well. So, I did enjoy it in the end, but I don't think that 'Paper Heart' worked so well throughout its runtime.

Helpful

Interesting, if not entirely successful!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 February 2010

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

Paper Heart is essentially a pretend documentary about a girl who doesn't believe in love. However during the quest to see if travelling across America and talking to people whom have loved will change her views, she actually meets someone and starts a relationship with him.

The actual story is a good one but while I was very interested in what becomes a very believeable set up, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the leading lady saying "But I'm not in love!" when she's spent the last few months holding hands and smooching her boyfriend. I then ended up losing empathy with her and her quest and feeling sorry for everyone else that was suffering it with her. The deleted scenes (some half an hours worth!) went some way to restoring more likability in her for me but if there'd been more of a slow realisation of love instead of this abrupt quick ending with a strange tacked on explanation then I'd have felt much more at home with the whole movie and then rated it and enjoyed it higher.

I'd definately watch it again, I've a feeling this will be a grower, but I've seen a lot more likeable indie love movies than this where the leading lady doesn't end up rubbing me up the wrong way (Me, You and Everyone We Know for starters!)

Helpful

Otaku

Okay but not great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 February 2010

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

Oh no! After watching the first 15 minutes of this then turning off in disgust and irritation, I decided to give it another go, and... I kind of liked it. Well, bits.
Charleyne Yi is incredibly irritating and Michael Cera comes off pretty badly, too. It's unfortunate then that they are the main characters. They're clumsy, uncomfortable and unconvincing. But the actual real people in this- the people in Vegas, the bikers, the couple that work in a divorce court- are often interesting and engaging, with a story to tell. This is not down to any genius on the film-maker's part: she's an awkward interviewer and the animation segments just irked me. But put a camera in front of most people and there will be something worth watching if they're just being themselves, which Yi and Cera patently were not.
I can't in all conscience recommend this film, as it is deeply flawed. But should you find yourself forced to watch it and despair of the first segments... don't despair. It does get a bit better. I would rate this as 5/10, so consider my 3 a 2.5.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

HN

Quirky and Cute

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2010

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

I loved Paper Heart, it's a film about a girl who doesn't believe in love but during her travels across America filming a documentary about love, she happens to fall in love herself. It sounds quite soppy but it really isn't, very quirky and cute, starring Michael Cera (Juno) and Charlyne Yi (had a small part in Knocked Up). It is quite strange to watch, because half of it is the documentary that Charlyne is filming and then the other half is this fictional storyline of Charlyne meeting Michael and 'falling in love with him'. The documentary bits are really good, she interviews all sorts of couples talking about their experiences of love and then there are these little puppet scenes acting out their stories. I wasn't too keen on the Charlyne and Michael storyline as it just wasn't believable at all, and whilst it is fictional it's played out as though it's them in real life and I just found it awkward and unrealistic. It's a shame because I think the film has real potential otherwise. Paper Heart is not a romantic comedy as such, whilst it is funny in parts it's more a heartwarming, feelgood film.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

5 star		47%
4 star		18%
3 star		15%
2 star		7%
1 star		13%

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Download Audiobooks	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	DPReview Digital Photography	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations

Amazon Home Services Experienced pros Happiness Guarantee	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands

Amazon Warehouse Deep Discounts Open-Box Products	Amazon Business Service for business customers	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food

Select Your Cookie Preferences

Paper Heart

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Paper Heart

Top positive review

Top critical review

Filtered by

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From United Kingdom

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

Select Your Cookie Preferences

Paper Heart › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Paper Heart

Top positive review

Top critical review

Filtered by

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From United Kingdom

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading the comments at the moment. Please try again later.

Paper Heart

›

Customer reviews