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Paul Pleases To A Degree
-
Apr 4, 2011
- by kfontenot
- posted in Forbidden Planet - Sci-Fi Books & Films!
Rating:
+3
Paul comes from the minds of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, both of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame. The Brits play a pair of science fiction loving nerds who, after attending the San Diego Comic Con, inadvertantly run into Paul while on a road trip to famous alien encounter spots in the American Southwest.
Paul is on the run from Area 51 and a few men in black who have very bad plans for him. As he, Frost, and Pegg are on the lam, we learn more about the little foul-mouthed alien and why he is fleeing the scene.
It turns out that since he first crash-landed on our planet many years ago, he has been the key influence on popular culture over the last few decades. Steven Spielberg in particular owes most of his fame and prominence to the little guy.
As the film rolls along, the viewer is given multiple doses of potty-mouthed and stoner humor (Seth Rogen provides the voice of Paul, after all). There are also countless hints, leans, squints, and winks at numerous films and television series. All of this amounts to plenty of funny moments for fans of television and film (especially science fiction fans), but I found that the pop culture references became lost in the sea of continuous expletives and marijuana jokes.
There is also a character played by Kristen Wiig that represents a very extreme version of a Christian fundamentalist. While I've never found Wiig to be that funny, I really did enjoy her character up until the point that Paul convinces her to have a change of heart in the film. From this point on, she becomes one pointless crude joke after another and her character becomes useless.
Overall, Paul's appeal lies with fans of science fiction, stoners, and sophomoric antics. I have no problem with foul language in films, but when it is used repeatedly in the hopes to draw laughter from the crowd, it becomes annoying. That is exactly what I believe happened to Paul as a whole. It started out as a really funny concept that quickly ran out of jokes and fell on the tried-and-true potty humor to fill out its time limit.
Overall, Paul is enjoyable enough but it is nowhere near as funny as Shaun of the Dead. I recommend it strictly to fans of science fiction comedy and Jackass fans.
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Moviesfan
April 05, 2011
Great review!! I really want to see this
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About the reviewer
Kendall Fontenot (kfontenot)
Ranked #32
Ranked #32
Despite looking extremely cool, I have to admit that I'm a dork. I grew up on the outskirts of the small town of Oberlin, LA. I have since relocated to the Lake Charles, LA area.I love my home state … more
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About this movie
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) reunite for the comedy adventure Paul as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America's UFO heartland. While there, they accidentally meet an alien who brings them on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever. For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town-a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost). Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman that they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. And as two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes...
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Cast:
Sigourney Weaver,
Jeffrey Tambor,
Jason Bateman,
Nick Frost,
Joe Lo Truglio,
Seth Rogen,
Jane Lynch,
Kristen Wiig,
Bill Hader,
Simon Pegg,
Blythe Danner
Director:
Greg Mottola
Genre:
Comedy,
Sci-Fi
Release Date:
14 February 2011 (UK) 18 March 2011 (US)
MPAA Rating:
R
Screen Writer:
Nick Frost,
Simon Pegg
Runtime:
104 mins
Studio:
Working Title,
Relativity Media
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