Review of Paper Heart (2009) by The3Academysins — 25 Nov 2019

If I am being polite, Paper Heart is sickly sweet. If I am being honest, Paper Heart is borderline insufferable. There is no element of truth, honesty, beauty, reality, or love present in this self indulgent mess.

The documentary could not appear more fake or staged even if the interviewees were walking around with scripts in their hands. The story of the romance between Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera is the most cliche and contrived plot I have ever seen.

The ending is literally a cop-out, and the cop-out is not clever, ingenious, or self-aware in any way. I found myself wanting to strangle every single character from the moment they walked on screen. Charlyne Yi's "I could never fall in love" BS is so incredibly false and basic that it undermines nearly the entire film.

This movie is only 88 minutes, but it is so horribly paced that it feels like a three hour drama. There is some pretty inventive cinematography, the transitions between scenes and locations are really well done, and the diorama based skits are pretty original.

That's about all the good that's in this movie. Not worth your time.