"Paper Heart" Leaves the Audience Asking, "Documentary or Mockumentry?"

Have you ever left a movie wondering what parts of it were true and what part were fictitious? "Paper Heart" is one of those movies for me.

I went into the Colonial Theater on Sunday night with a little background of this movie (the plot, actors, characters, ect). But when I came out of the theater, I rushed to my computer to ask the bigger question, "Was this movie a documentary or a mockumentary?"

The movie follows comedian and actress Charlyne Yi across the country searching for the true meaning of love. Yi interviews a wide variety of people. Some have been in love and married for fifty years. Some are divorced but have been in love. And some have only recently found love and want it to last forever.

The movie also follows Yi's own relationship triumphs with actor Michael Cera. They meet at a party where Yi and Cera have mutual friends and their relationship builds through out the movie. This is the part I found confusing. Was this couple real or fake?

As soon as I got home, I was determined to find out which parts, if any, were real. In an interview with traileraddict.com, Yi discusses that the story with Cera and herself was in fact planned out, but not scripted. Yi said in the interview, "We had a loose outline and we improvised a lot hoping that our dialog felt real."

Yi also went on to say that the people she conducted her interviews with around the United States were REAL people with REAL stories.

The premise of the movie is a different take on documentaries today. Although the parts with Yi and Cera's relationship was often very awkward for the audience, the stories of the real couples and their stories was worth the $6 admission.


Overall Grade: C+

Question to the readers: Would you consider this a documentary even though there is some fictitious parts to it? Why or why not?


Here is the interview with Yi from trailer addict to possibly help you make your decision: