Paul Review
By: Joshua “What if we wake up and find him inserting a probe into our anus?” Richey
When you saw the trailers for Paul and seen that the beloved Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were teaming up for another movie, you probably couldn’t help but to be concerned when you didn’t see Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright’s name attached. A lot of people automatically dismissed this film for that, citing that this was just Hollywood’s attempt to cash in on our love for Simon, Nick and Edgar’s previous works.
However, if you’re one of those people, you’re going to miss out on what is one of the year’s funniest films.
First off, this film was written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; so that should comfort you quite a bit. It’s also in Greg Mottola’s hands, who, despite being somewhat new to directing, he’s proven with films like Superbad and Adventureland that he’s more than capable of making a good film. The case is only further proven by Paul.
Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are two livelong friends that have been working together on a new science fiction novel. For inspiration, they take a holiday to America so that they can attend Comic-Con and visit the mid-west’s alien hot spots.
On their way to the infamous Area 51, Graeme and Clive are nearly hit by a wild driver. After the driver crashes his car onto the side of the road, Graeme and Clive stop by to offer up assistance only to find Paul, an escaped alien that crashed to Earth in the 1940’s. Paul pleads the two friends to help him out before three government agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio) track him down and take him back to the base that he’s been stuck at for over 60 years.
Graeme and Clive agree, but their trip is anything but smooth. While dodging the government agents, they’ll kidnap a warmhearted Jesus Freak (Kristen Wiig), run into the hillbilly locals, and have to learn to deal with Paul’s rudeness.
There are some things in life that you just cannot teach. Chemistry is among them. The natural chemistry that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost possess is something that you can only achieve by being friends and working closely with one another for decades. It’s a real joy to watch.
Its films like this that delivers the ultimate movie-going experience. You go in, you pay $9 for a ticket, you grab a drink, some popcorn and a Kit-Kat (in my case) and you proceed to laugh for the next 90 minutes and forget about all of life’s problems.
If you’re in the mood for an out of this world comedy this spring, go see Paul. I give it 4 spaceman balls out of 5.
