Paper Heart

Review by Anthony Morris

US comedian, and star of Paper Heart, Charlyne Yi has never been in love and doesn't really believe it exists. 

So what better way to test her beliefs than by making a documentary about love?

With her best friend directing, she sets off to find out how love works chemically and physically while talking to various people - both in love and single - about their experiences.

It might sound a little too cutsey, especially once you realise that Yi is a chirpy, bubbly young woman whose act falls under the category of "quirky".

That is often not a good thing either ("quirky" often means the same as "unfunny poser"), but she fairly rapidly establishes herself to be charming, funny and extremely likeable. 

Which is handy, because after a while - roughly the second or third scene featuring her friend Michael Cera (from Arrested Development and Superbad) this documentary starts to feel a little like a set-up. 

It is not that she isn't friends with him in real life - we see her being friends with various other comedians (Seth Rogen cameo alert) and rumour has it that she had / has a relationship with Cera in real life - but as their friendship turns into romance it becomes increasingly obvious that at least some of what we are watching has been staged. 

But who cares? 

The film is fun and funny, Yi and Cera make a cute couple, and when things start to go wrong anyone who paid attention to an early interview with a writer of romance novels will have a pretty good idea of how things will pan out.

Plus Yi re-enacts various peoples tales of true love with shoddy puppets that somehow make the stories even more poignant.

It won't change the world, or even the way you look at love, but as date movies go this puts the "awww" back into adorable.

3 out of 5

Paper Heart
Australian release: 24th September, 2009
Official Site: Paper Heart
Cast: Charlyne Yi, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen
Director: Nicholas Jasenovec