Last night we went to see Paul with our friends B and L. This was a perfect Easter egg of a movie to see on Easter Sunday - sweet and sugary on the inside with a crunchy outer coating courtesy of some inventive new cursing and a few alien butt shots. Hopefully you've read my earlier post on upcoming films I was excited about, but to recap: Paul is a film written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (actors from Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced) and directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland). The talents of these three individuals combine really well to make a very enjoyable film with quite a few laughs and a high "spot the movie reference" quotient. Simon and Nick play Graeme and Clive, two English geeks who go to Comic-Con in San Diego then begin a road trip in an RV through the southern states to visit many famous alien related sites e.g. Area 51, the black mailbox (which is actually white!). The introduction to the movie has made me really want to attend a Comic-Con one day!
The guys have not gotten far on their trip when a car overtakes them and crashes, and when they go to investigate they discover a small grey alien called Paul who has lived on earth for the past 60 odd years, helping the Government after his spaceship crashlanded. Paul is trying to escape the clutches of "The Big Guy" who feels that Paul's usefulness has run out; he's been able to get a message to his people to come and pick him up. Graeme and Clive adjust to their dreams coming true and decide to help Paul on his mission to get to the pick up point. A series of mini-misadventures ensues, with the guys meeting a devout Christian RV park manager - Ruth - who quickly adjusts to finding out the truth about her faith and enjoying her new found freedom to "curse" and "fornicate" (Kristen Wiig does a great job in this role, very funny), while being chased by a mysterious agent working for The Big Guy (Jason Bateman also doing a great performance), two bumbling local agents, Ruth's dad trying to rescue her, plus two rednecks who aren't happy with the boys.
I thought this film would be constantly hilarious but it is more of an adventure film with a series of gently funny moments and sweet moments. The relationship between Graeme and Clive and Paul evolves nicely and all are believable, with Seth Rogen voicing Paul as very "Seth Rogen". I really enjoyed the film overall and found plenty of moments where I was really caught up in the mission and kept saying out loud "oh no" when something bad would happen. I also picked up a lot of the references they've packed in to other films, particularly watch out for lines or whole scenes relating to Star Wars, Star Trek, ET, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Alien and a few other films by Steven Spielberg. I've included above a link to a website which lists a fair few of these references, but don't check it until you've watched the movie or it will spoil it.
I recommend this movie if you're a fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, or if you just like alien encounter movies in general. It was really fun, I give it 4 out of 5.
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