Simon Pegg and Nick Frost live, think and speak geek, and while wildly funny, their comedies are equal, if not superior to other examples of the genres they tackle. Both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz earn their wings among fellow zombie-horror and over the top cop flicks respectively. Though not as tight as either of their previous big screen team-ups, Paul delivers on its premise: a road trip movie by way of E.T. and Superbad.
Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are two geeks on a near-holy pilgrimage to see America’s famous UFO landmarks. Shortly after their adventure begins, the boys meet Paul (Seth Rogen) a foul mouthed, chain-smoking alien who is just as well versed in pop culture as they are. Desperate to escape the men in black who have kept him under lock and key for the last several decades, Paul hitches a ride and Graeme and Clive find themselves caught up in the type of adventure their fanboy dreams are made of.
Paul is very aware of its place within the context of the culture that created it. Dircetor Greg Mottola opens the film with Paul’s arrival to Earth in a scene that evokes the famous abduction scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Jason Bateman’s relentless Agent Zoil is introduced to us from the waist down, stalking around for clues about Paul’s whereabouts the same way like Spielberg introduces “Keys” in E.T.
This is where the movie shines and where it feels the most at home. Pegg and Frost are pop culture alchemists, and tinkering with and contributing to the fictions they clearly love is what they excel at.
Surprisingly, Paul is much broader than Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz and this is where the movie stumbles occasionally. Unlike Shaun and Fuzz, Paul never allows itself to get too comfortable as science fiction. Also missing is the engaging visual touches that Edgar Wright brought to the table. Paul doesn’t look boring, but it’s best shots are the ones borrowed from Spielberg.
Halfway through, the movie also starts to match its geek output with bizarre obscenities when super-conservative Christian, Ruth (Kristen Wiig), has her worldview opened up by Paul. Excited by her newfound freedom from a life of all encompassing abstinence, Ruth embarks on a road of experimentation with sex, drugs and curse words. Sadly her grade school attempts to grapple with swearing becomes a one note joke before too long. It’s too bad, because before the gag got stale it was a highlight.
Thankfully Paul never slows down long enough to let the script’s hiccups get the best of it.
At its heart it is a road trip through Spielberg’s America, guided by the geeks and dreamers that were raised by it. It might not make a solid three in a row for Pegg and Frost, but it was good enough. In this case they’re their own worst enemies.
They set their own bar extremely high and while Paul is a lot fun, “good enough” from these guys can’t help but feel like a little bit of a bummer.
