Overture Films

Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi star in "Paper Heart."

"Paper Heart" is a peculiar little thing of a movie -- part comedy, part romance and part fake documentary. Its subject is love.

Charlyne Yi doesn't understand it. She says she's never been in love and doesn't ever expect to be in love. But she's curious about what it means to other people, particularly those who profess to have found it, so she launches a cross-country odyssey of discovery complete with a director and bare-bones film crew.

This is the fake documentary part of "Paper Heart." Yi, an actress and comic, plays herself. So do the documentary interviewees -- actors, Vegas wedding chapel proprietors, long-term couples (straight and gay), scientists, bikers, children and others.

Actor Jake Johnson plays the director of the faux documentary, Nicholas Jasenovec, who is in fact the director of "Paper Heart."

Got it?

Yi, of course, is the heart of the movie. She's tiny, quizzical of expression, disarmingly candid, sartorially on the scruffy side and altogether a likable gal.

Her interviews, particularly with the children and long-term couples, are poignant and revealing of the subjects but break no new ground on the nature of love. One of the charms of "Paper Heart" is the homemade puppets with which Yi acts out the couples' romantic backstories.

Yi's quest picks up some dramatic steam when she meets actor Michael Cera ("Juno") and starts to fall in love herself. They're engaging as individuals and as a couple, but their romance is so clumsy and hesitant that watching it elicits more tension than pleasure. Part of the problem is that the fake documentary's director insists on capturing the relationship on film.

"Paper Heart" won a screenwriting award at Sundance. It's undeniably original and fraught with charm. At the same time, it's draggy in places, inconsistent in tone and occasionally seems a little too pleased with itself.

Call it a good idea that's almost -- but not quite -- brought off.