Review: Paul

Best friends and sci-fi nerds Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are on a road trip in the US to Comic-Con and a bunch of alien-related landmarks like Roswell, New Mexico and Area 51, Nevada. On their way to the latter, the two Brit twits see a car crash, and when stopping to help, they come across something out of their wildest fantasies (well, not the ones involving chicks with three breasts- oh, I’m so with you there, guys!). They encounter a small alien being. It turns out that his name is Paul. Yes, Paul. Voiced by the very recognisable Seth Rogen, he’s a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, smart-arse, completely unlike anything you’d expect. Whilst a bunch of spooks led by humourless Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman), and dispatched by an entity known as The Big Guy (but you can call her Zuul), are chasing after Paul, the two buddies are now forced to drive Paul to a rendezvous with his spaceship. Along the way they pick up a one-eyed, religious zealot (Kristen Wiig) whose faith is totally obliterated by Paul’s very existence. John Carroll Lynch plays Wiig’s nutjob, gun-toting father who also pursues our RV driving travellers. Bill Hader plays a nincompoop agent, David Koechner is a redneck (No, really?), and Jane Lynch is amusing as a bartender at an alien-themed dive. Blythe Danner (more sad than funny) has a role as an elderly woman who had an alien encounter when she was young, and it has made her life hell ever since.

 

I never warmed to the rather unpleasant characters Simon Pegg and Nick Frost played in the overrated “Shaun of the Dead”, nor did I think the follow-up “Hot Fuzz” was all that much better. Now they’ve come together to write and star alongside Seth Rogen in a nerdy alien comedy from 2011 directed by Greg Mottola of “Superbad” fame. It’s not up to the hilarious standard of “Superbad”, and in fact, it’s pretty uneven. However, Pegg and Frost are for once actually quite likeable, and the film has its moments.

 

The caricatured portrayal of Fundamentalist Christians is a sticking point even for an atheist like me, however. Yes, it only mocks those who believe in a 6,000 year old Earth and Intelligent Design, but still, it was unnecessary (it belongs in another film entirely) and unfunny. The characters played by Kristen Wiig and John Carroll Lynch just aren’t funny, and occupy too much of the film’s length. Actually, even the movie reference gags are hit and miss (The best are gags centred around “Close Encounters” and “Mac and Me”). The star voice cameo, for instance, flew over my head until right at the very end. It just wasn’t as funny as it should’ve been, nor is the film as a whole. When Wiig gets to use the most famous line from “Aliens” against Sigourney Weaver herself, it made me groan, not laugh. One of the funniest laughs about an illegal immigrant isn’t even a movie reference, just a genuinely funny gag.

 

The best and worst thing about the film is actually the title character. The CGI FX are genuinely impressive, Paul looks almost real, and certainly has been rendered with convincing solidity. Unfortunately, once the voice of Seth Rogen is heard and Paul is revealed to be a foul-mouthed chain-smoker (of various substances), my heart sank a little. Some of Rogen’s work is funny, even when going for lowest common denominator stuff like his his annoyed response to being asked if he’s going to insert an anal probe into our protagonists. But it’s just so lazy, disappointing (a stoner alien? Really? Yawn...), and tiresome after a while. And whilst it’s likely meant to be intentionally wrong, the match of Rogen’s voice to the visage of Paul actually works against believing Paul as a real film character. I know it’s a comedy, but I’m still meant to believe him to be a real character for 100 minutes or so, and I’m afraid I never quite did. He was like “ALF” (quite a lot like him, actually), but more uncouth, and a lot less funny (That show was hilarious, and I won’t hear otherwise!). So the fine FX work is essentially for nought, and Paul ends up as fake as the one-eyed Fundamentalist nut played by Wiig.

 

Still, this is a lot warmer and more likeable than the previous Pegg and Frost adventures, and I kinda had a good time with it. It’s just uneven and ultimately not what it could’ve and should’ve been. It’s one of those films on the borderline between B- and C+, but what the hell, I’m in a good mood.

 

Rating: B-