“Paul” Movie Review

     

       Hello, Randomites, and welcome to the first installment of the what the random Movie Review, where we will examine, argue about and then over-analyze current and past releases. These reviews and articles will cover a wide range of films and, while we will happily take suggestions for movies we should write about, we’re probably still going to do whatever the hell we want. Anyways, I’m the one with the keyboard. Mr. WTR just spends all of his time on his throne made of skulls, playing with his pet snow leopards Conan and Thundarr and yelling at the servants about why Back to the Future is the greatest trilogy of all time and explaining why he won’t give any of them raises or let them leave the house. He’s a meany.
Now, we know that most of you come to WTR to get your daily dose of weird and probably stalk one another just a little bit (it’s ok, everyone does it, so don’t deny it), but we figured adding some more content to the site might make it that much more interesting and, in the process, pick up some more subscribers.
     

     These reviews are intended to just be fun and entertaining, not serious or long, drawn out and in depth discussions about the political, social and economic situations or theories that movies sometimes lend themselves to. Nope, not us. We here at WTR are made of classier stuff and we prefer the finer things in films, such as boobs, explosions, Kurt Russell, gun fights, gun fights involving dinosaurs and fart jokes *places monocle in left eye socket and swirls brandy sifter full of grape Kool-Aid*. Now then, let’s begin...

     Our review for today is the newly released film Paul, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogen and directed by Greg Mottola (creator of the awesome Superbad and somewhat-ok-but-could-have-been-better-if-Kristen-Stewart-would-learn-how-to-act-and-Jesse-Eisenberg-wasn’t-so-whiny Adventureland).
Paul is the story of two friends, Greame Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost), who travel from their home in England to California to attend that nerdiest and sexiest of Mecca’s, Comic-Con, where they spend their time wandering through continuous references to pop culture and a few thousand nerds (NEEERRRDDSS!!) in various costumes.
     

     After their time at Comic-Con, they decide to travel the American Midwest, touring through various alien related sites and attractions, including Area 51. While driving, the pair witness a car chase and a crash. Jumping out of their R.V., Graeme and Clive encounter Paul, a foul mouthed alien who claims to be running from the Government who has kept him captive since his crash landing. Graeme and Clive agree to protect Paul and get him to the rendezvous point so he can go home. The usual hilarious and crazy hi-jinks that you would come to expect ensue and, inevitably, Star Wars themes, anal probe references and fart jokes will be made and audiences will be left laughing or slightly confused.
This film will, inevitably, be compared to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz since American audiences don’t have a lot of other Pegg/Frost collaborations to pull from. Both aforementioned films are hilarious spoofs of the horror and action industries, respectively, so it seems the duo changed their direction with Paul, pandering to the nerds and geeks hiding quietly in their basement lairs.
     

     The film is full of quick little Sci-Fi and nerd jokes that sometimes fly so thick and fast that you have to pay attention to catch them all. Paul lends himself to most of these jokes, including a flashback which shows some of his time as a government captive, where he served as a creative consultant for alien movies in Hollywood. His shape and appearance are synonymous with our idea of what an alien looks like and one scene contains several flashbacks that show Paul talking to various directors and entertainment moguls, such as explaining the finer points of alien physiology to Steven Spielberg in preparation for E.T.


     Paul himself is another character that deserves attention. Voiced by the usually hilarious Seth Rogen, Paul comes off a somewhat lazy stoner alien who, having spent so much time in captivity, simply wants to go home. He’s rude and crass, but naturally he’s a good guy with a big heart who just wants to be your friend. Greg Mottola definitely worked to make it so almost all the jokes centered around Paul, but this only works half the time. Some jokes stand up well and some fall flat.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost both do a fair job in with Paul, but neither ever seem to really have fun with the roles like they did in Shaun of the Dead (but maybe I’m a little biased…I’ve only seen Shaun of the Dead about 4,000 times too many). They still play the buddy duo very well, but they mostly spend the movie working together to either conceal Paul or run screaming out of or in to scenes. The fact that the two aspire to have their own comic one day becomes the central point in their argument over taking Paul home, but it never seems to be very important to the movie.
     

     My personal favorite was Kristen Wiig’s character, Ruth Buggs, an extremely sheltered and religious young woman who works in an R.V. park that Graeme and Clive stop at. When she’s eventually introduced to Paul on accident (who can remain invisible if he holds his breath…some sort of alien camouflage….yup) she refuses to acknowledge his existence because it means that everything she believes in is wrong. After Paul changes her mind (he can transfer the understanding of all knowledge of the universe and existence through simply touching your forehead….yup) Buggs becomes a foul mouthed, uninhibited weirdo who spends the rest of the movie awkwardly stringing curse words together, such as “tit farts” (excellent) and “dick feet” (ha), and makes a few unsolicited grabs for Graemes junk. Wiig has fun with the role and gets to act like a ditzy airhead, something she plays very well.
    

     Rounding out the cast is Jason Bateman and Bill Hader, playing Federal agents that are pursuing Paul. Bateman is funny as the serious team leader who’s doggedly pursuing Paul for his own mysterious reasons (could I make the twist any more obvious?) and Hader plays a slightly oblivious and ambitious young agent. Sigourney Weaver also makes a cameo as the head of their agency, earning a few murmurs from the crowd and Mr. WTR nudging me in the ribs while whispering “it’s the lady from that movie with the bug things” while he stuffed his face with popcorn.

So, in the end, Paul is a funny film with a few excellent parts and a few more that simply fall flat. Die hard fans of Pegg and Frost should enjoy themselves and, while the sci-fi and nerd culture references are funny and usually well placed and the story is well done, but it just doesn’t always quite hold together. It’s not going to change your mind or beat Shaun of the Dead for funniest Pegg/Frost collaboration, but it’s up there.

     Thanks for reading this week’s review, Randomites. We’ll be back again (hopefully within a week) with another review on whatever the hell movie we feel deserves our esteemed and venerated attention. And remember, summer is just around the corner, which means summer blockbusters, a few occasional turds and some good old fashioned nerd fodder (“Thor” and “Captain America”, anyone?). So, do some stretches, wear something sexy and warm up the massage oil, because this should get fun. Stay Weird, everyone.

Review written by Angry Movie Nerd
Writer, Editor, Nerd and Head Pancake Batter Mixer