Movies: Paul

Score: *** out of *****

Long Story Short: Paul is a fun film, with a positive, bright mood that is refreshing. It will have you laughing or at least chuckling quite a bit, especially with a friend, and there are some nice casting choices and performances. However, I would not recommend solo viewing due to the nature of the humor, and there's simply not very much that stands out. Take it (with a buddy) or leave it.

Ah, now I'm back on track! I'm back to my usual once-per-week blog posting, and I hope that will continue for awhile now. It'll be mostly a mix of music and movie reviews, but I may have a March Madness summary post, and I'll certainly have an NBA Playoffs preview. Anyway, Paul was released in theaters last weekend, and was directed by Greg Mottola (Super Bad). This is another comedy semi-spoof movie starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (their similar films include Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

Paul starts off by showing the vacation/road trip of Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), a pair of British adult dorks who attend Comic-Con and then to travel Southwest USA's UFO landmarks such as Area 51 and Roswell in an RV. The two are obviously long-time friends, and in fact are mistaken as a couple several times. On the road in the middle of nowhere, the friends stumble upon Paul (Rogen), an alien who is being chased by mysterious bad guys. One agent (Bateman) is on the chase immediately, aided (more like hindered) by two local cops (Hader and Truglio).

Graeme, Clive, and Paul attempt to hide out in an RV camp, where they meet Ruth (Wiig), a member of a strict Christian family; Ruth is soon pulled along with the gang. On the way to a spot where Paul hopes to be picked up by his fellow aliens, they stop at the home of a young girl who witnessed Paul land in the first place, as well as get chased through a small town. When they finally reach the rendezvous point, the showdown with the mysterious bad guys commences, and Paul makes use of his special powers.

As you can probably tell, the plot of this film is not too important; the focus is much more on the characters. Pegg and Frost do a great job in the beginning of the film, portraying dorky yet genuinely close friends (which they are in real life, I guess, so it probably wasn't too difficult to do). As Paul and Ruth come in to the picture, they develop some other interesting, decently executed, if somewhat cliched webs of friendship and tension. Rogen (the second movie I've "seen" him in already this year) is a great choice for the voice of Paul, a sarcastic, rather rude, but also good-at-the-core alien. Kristen Wiig, who I've always felt does a great job on SNL, is also a very nice choice for Ruth, a shy, rather awkward conservative woman who gradually learns to loosen up a little (or a lot). I also love fellow-SNL member Hader, in a movie role he is by now quite familiar with; Jane Lynch ("Glee") and David Koechner (Anchorman) have brief but amusing roles, and there are several more cameos as well (big one at the end).

Paul combines elements from a number of different movie types. The general warmth of the film and happy ending is sort of like a family comedy, but the humor (and language) is way too raunchy for that. It spoofs a lot of sci-fi franchises (probably a lot more than I even noticed), but the spoofiness is far from the focus of the film. It is a decently funny movie, with a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, but most of the laughs come from the minor characters and Paul's tricks; Pegg and Frost seem to just be the supporting structure around which, rather than at which, the humor is based.

***

Paul is a fine movie; I saw it with a friend in the theater, and if you go to see it, I suggest you do the same. This is because the best aspects of this movie are the type of humor that it's fun to laugh at with your friends, but by yourself you would probably find less funny. And this also distracts you enough from the fact that there is not much creativity here. Yes, there a few memorable scenes, but there's a bit too much that you could just step out to go the bathroom and instinctively know what you've missed. As I say, there are some nice touches in Paul, but see it with a friend(s), or watch something else.