Paul ~~~

Loving crafted and well scripted Alien-buddy movie starring Britain’s best exports Simon Frost and Nick Pegg, those loveable fella’s that brought us the very funny and totally unique ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘Shaun of the Dead’.

Let’s get it out of the way… Paul is indeed an alien. I think the trailers for this film kinda ruined what could have been a great surprise gag but nevertheless, Paul, voiced rather nicely by Seth Rogen, pops up pretty soon in the film so no real spoiler alert needed.

So, Graeme and Clive, two geeky bezzy mates hire an RV and hit the American road in search of UFOs, sci-fi conventions and a bit of adventure. And naturally, they meet Paul, the alien. After a rocky start, the Brits accept Paul’s presence and do all they can to protect him against prying eyes and the law… yes, Paul is being chased by the boys in blue as well as some red-necks and eventually Bible-bashers. Oh, what larks!

I decided pretty soon on to throw myself into the very silly but smartly funny story and let it all wash over me. Highlights included the brilliantly comic actress Kristen Wiig, as a creationist trailer park owner, and the lovely Jason Bateman as yet another guy on the trio’s trail.

The eye for detail was really lovely – the CGI animated Paul looked great, the script was intelligent and the attempt at bringing in a discussion concerning creationism and evolution was pretty good. Can aliens exist if there is a god? Discuss.

I understand that a lot of money was thrown at this film and on the one hand this verion of ‘Paul’ may never have been made without it. On the other, having such finances and expectation attached to ‘Paul’, and it being an ‘American’ flick, definitely led to the watering down of the usually more ‘British’, and focused, sense of humour Pegg, Frost et al deliver.

Overall, I really quite enjoyed ‘Paul’. It was funny, endearing, knowing, exciting and well paced. It’s not often an intelligent and accessible comedy comes along that will appeal to most people but I think on this occasion the ‘Spaced’ gang did good. And on that note, if you haven’t already done so, I advise you to watch ‘Spaced’ – both series with lots of tea and biscuits to hand. Fancy a bourbon?

One thing I have to get off my chest though, why was Pegg wearing a wig? Bizarre and very distracting. Why do it?

I look forward to the next Frost/Pegg presentation. Thanks lads, it’s nice to have a laugh one in a while…

Viewed: 2nd March 2011