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Comedienne Charlene Yi doesn't believe in love. At least the quasi-fictional movie version of her self does not. Bespectacled, shy, petite—some would call her indie or an "indoor kid," Yi's not even sure of what it means, exactly, to be in love or to be truly loved by someone else. In Paper Heart, out now on DVD, Yi travels the country interviewing her comedian friends—including Seth Rogen and Demitri Martin—plus strangers on the street and a diverse collection of characters like an old married couple that wed in their teens, a group of schoolyard children, college professors and a divorce court judge and his longtime co-worker wife. As some choice interviewees recount the day they fell in love or how they learned a life-changing lesson, homemade puppet and diorama sequences inventively recreate these memories so that their voice-over narration is underscored with a childlike humor that accentuates the moral of these stories and speaks to greater truths about love. It's a simple, clever device that will probably trick a lot of non-documentary watchers into really engaging with these everyday stories.

As Yi and her director Nick are gathering excellent footage, hearing such a stark variety of theories and feelings about love has Yi feeling somewhat justified in her agnostic stance on the phenomenon. But then a funny thing happens on the way to the editing room. Yi attends a party in Los Angeles where she meets Superbad star Michael Cera, at times an equally awkward comedic actor who nevertheless is quickly taken by Yi's nerdy aloofness. Initially resistant to even a new friendship, Yi comes around and begins trading IMs and phone calls with Cera. The documentary cameras keep rolling as Yi develops a crush on him, and Nick is loving this ironic turn of events. But does the filmmaker have Yi's best interests at heart, or is he simply trying to make a good movie?

As Cera becomes Yi's unwitting co-star, their budding romance is put to the test by the constant presence of Nick's cameras and Yi's still strongly guarded approach to relationships. The pair goes shopping, eats dinner, and road trips to a concert all with the camera crew close behind. But as Nick looks for a spectacular, Hollywood ending to the documentary, Cera feels increasingly imprisoned by the project, and he and Yi are forced to quickly evaluate their relationship in real terms.

Not unlike the anthology Paris, je t'aime, Paper Heart is light on narrative but thematically rich. These myriad meditations on love and the humorous and relatable Cera/Yi relationship tie enough loose ends together to make the film a success. And Paper Heart triumphs exactly because it doesn't attempt to provide definitive answers. How do you know it's the one? What's the difference between liking someone and loving them? Why are there so many divorces?

The title Paper Heart, I believe, is perfect, and one of my favorite of 2009. We all have multiple concepts of love, but the truth is, only some of them are real. Others may look like it or at times even feel like it. Barkers to the left and the right will call out to us touting the latest and greatest versions of it, even by turning good things into ultimate things, but up close the mirage will always fade, the scissored lines and the crude folds will reveal themselves, and they'll be seen for what they truly are—only construction paper, thin and remote and disposable—perhaps adequately and temporarily giving us what we want but never providing what we need.

If the candy aisle at the grocery store is any indication, Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Paper Heart is a great DVD to rent with your valentine.