'Paper Heart': Sort-of mock doc is cute but confusing

Fact and fiction intermingle in "Paper Heart," but discovering where the line is drawn is the tricky part.

Ostensibly a documentary built around artist and comedian Charlyne Yi and directed by her pal Nicholas Jasenovec, "Paper Heart" starts cute, with Yi and the crew traveling around the United States asking people if true love actually exists.

Not surprisingly, they see a lot of evidence that it does. A variety of people — elders, professionals, blue-collar folks, a celebrity or two (Seth Rogen and actor Paul Rust pop up) — have a lot to say on the subject, for the most part seriously.

But like one of those young, fatalistic-sounding narrators on public radio's "This American Life," Yi never seems convinced. She does, however, prove to be a fun person to follow around, in a low-key way. At one point, she interviews a bunch of happily baffled kids on the film's theme, and then horses around with them in a playground. She also punctuates the action with little pieces of theater involving paper cutouts.

Dynamics shift once actor Michael Cera ("Year One"), playing himself, enters the movie. Cera and Yi pursue a mutual attraction but find the omnipresence of Jasenovec and the crew an unnatural distraction. Yi protests, but Jasenovec reminds her they had agreed to film everything, no matter what.

The question becomes can Yi and Cera protect what's growing between them, despite the pressure of always being on camera? Their problem makes for a convenient irony given Yi's earlier skepticism about love conquering all. But it's not an irony one can or should fully buy.

The scenes with Cera are shot the way works of fiction are shot, from different angles cut together to give the illusion of continuity. When the lovers make an end-run around the production, resulting in Jasenovec's on-camera frustration, the action looks less than credible.

There's no suggestion that Yi and Jasenovec are trying to pull a fast one. The real issue is, what is the point of "Paper Heart?"

One can call it a documentary when it is and a mockumentary otherwise. The boundary is in there somewhere. But while there is a lot to be gained from a movie asking real people about their experiences with love, the value of a genre-bending romantic comedy is more dubious.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com