Oh, Michael Cera. What is it that makes bashful teenagers write blog entry after blog entry about you? Yes, you are quite endearing and yes, you do pluck at our heartstrings a little, but enough is enough. Actors aren’t supposed to play the same character in every film they appear in.
Paper Heart is not exactly about Cera. It is about Charlyne Yi, a stand-up comic and actor best known for her role as the stoned Asian girlfriend in Knocked Up. Yi co-wrote and executive produced this “hybrid documentary” about falling in love.
The film follows a fictionalized version of herself as a love skeptic, which leads her on a world-wide adventure to make a documentary about what love truly is. Along the way, we encounter some of her famous friends such as Seth Rogen, Demetri Martin and (of course) Michael Cera.
As the documentary develops, fiction and non-fiction begin to blur as Yi begins an onscreen relationship with Cera. When Cera and Yi meet in the early stages of the film, Cera begins aggressive and flirtatious advances (well, for him, anyways), sending Yi into a shy retreat. Despite this, Cera is still the same lanky “nice” boy we’ve seen in Superbad, Juno, Nick and…well, pretty much every film he’s ever made.
Despite Cera’s unwanted presence in the film, Yi’s interaction with him does make Paper Heart adorable. The allure of the film is Yi’s quiet, subtle comedy and the way she interacts with all the players in her story. She even creates hilarious puppet shows which are sprinkled throughout the film to introduce each chapter. She makes audiences giggle awkwardly and scratch their heads with explosive yelps and adorable love songs about “wrapping your long arms around me.” In one scene, Yi argues with children about what love is. “Love is when you take someone to Applebee’s and you buy ‘em hot wings!” say the clever children. If only.
Yi is honest, wonderful, strange and peculiar and it is through her eyes that we experience the awkwardness of first love all over again.
Paper Heart is playing at 7pm in The Norm on November 11, 12, 14 and 15. Tickets are $4 or $2 for FilmSoc members.
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