Paul

Released: 2011

Directed By: Greg Mottola

Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen

Certificate: 15

Reviewed By: Darryl Griffiths

SO.. up to date, they’ve fought off a horde of flesh eating zombies in the Winchester and done their best impressions of being characters from ‘The Bill’ by having shootouts in Sainsbury’s. But now, the dynamic on screen duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (ok.. maybe not too dynamic!!) are about to take their antics across the pond and indulge in their inner and well documented geeky side.
The humourous intergalactic tale begins with Greame Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) embark on a tour across America with the main attraction of the trip being a highly esteemed comicbook convention, in the form of Comic-Con. After being taken in by such wonder, they hit the road in their spacious RV as they go and inspect various locations where UFOs have been allegedly sighted. Of course, they get more than they bargained for, thanks to the introduction of a slender looking but potty mouthed alien Paul (voiced by the larger than life Seth Rogen).
His aim is pure and simple… to get home and sees the enlisting of Greame and Clive’s help as his first class ticket there. But as with all UFO conspiracies, the Government are not far away from the action, with Jason Bateman leading the chase.

The film thrives on as you’d expect the chemistry of Pegg and Frost which has thankfully not diminished here, with them consistently hitting the funny bone as they sail through various and broad sci-fi references/in-jokes. It is hard to deny however, that their protagonists are not as memorable as their previous work, which could be put down to the lack of depth. Rogen as the title character is a CGI knockout as the outer space being, who revels in being as outrageous as possible.

The support seems game also, with Kristen Wiig being the highlight as a devoted but kooky Christian who joins our heroes midway through, who slowly unravels into a tad of a wild child.. Praise the lord? You be the judge of that.

In the hands of Superbad’s Greg Mottola, it does suffer from a lack of direction towards the end and is undoubtedly more scattershot and less tight in its plotting compared to the likes of Shaun Of The Dead. However, you could put it down to Pegg/Frost’s Mr Constant before ‘Paul’, Edgar Wright not being on writing and directing duties this time around. In addition, the odd running joke doesn’t get a killer comic pay off as a result to its uneven nature.

But it’s hard to argue the affection of the genre that Pegg/Frost clearly bring to the material, that despite its flaws, make it a entertaining and on the whole satisfying reunion.