Paper Heart is a 2009 romantic comedy/documentary centering on Charlyne Yi, a young comic/musician who doesn't believe in love. Curious about this emotion she doesn't understand, she decides to travel across the country and interview all sorts of people about love. On the way, she runs into a friend of her director, Nicholas Jasenovec, named Michael Cera. Fascinated by each other, the two start going out...
This film provides examples of:
- Character as Himself: An odd subversion. Nick Jasenovec is the director, co-writer and co-executive producer, but in the film he's actually played by an actor named Jake Johnson. Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera both play themselves, and there are cameos by other comedians playing themselves as well.
- Documentary: The interview sections
- Dogged Nice Guy: Michael, at the start
- Earn Your Happy Ending: A minor case. Charlyne and Michael reconcile when she doesn't let the camera crew into his house.
- Faux Documentary: The scenes about the relationship between Michael and Charlyne, although it does acknowledge the camera crew, a lot.
- Jerkass: Nick becomes one by insisting that everything must be documented, as Charlyne grows increasingly uncomfortable with it.
- No Fourth Wall: By design. Even in the fictional sections, Charlyne and Micheal will react to the camera, and as the film and their relationship goes on, they become more and more uncomfortable with being filmed.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Charlyne is somewhat cold to Michael at the beginning, although she does warm up eventually
