Director: Greg Mottola
Writer: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost (Screenplay)
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen (Voice), Jeffrey Tambor, Jane Lynch, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig
Plot: Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: ET for Adults
Story: Paul starts as we meet English tourist Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) having visited Comic Con head off a cross country adventure across America to see all the alien hot-spots. While on the adventure the friends bump into Paul (Voiced by Rogen) an alien in need of help, the friends reluctantly agree to help only to find themselves being tracked down by Agent Zoil (Bateman).
With the adventure fully underway Graeme, Clive, Paul are joined by Ruth (Wiig) as they race to save Paul from the authority and the Big Guy (Weaver).
Paul is gives us a fun adventure with all the adult jokes making it feel like ET for adults. I love how the two English guys are on a realistic trip that just gets an added extra with an actual alien. The side characters do sometimes come off as generic stereotypes for what we fee American could be like but otherwise we get everything correct. The swearing joke seems very forced with the character swearing just to make it sound like they are added just to make it feel like it is an adult film. Overall this is just a fun road trip like movie which all works.
Actor Review
Simon Pegg: Graeme Willy is one of the English tourists, he is the best friend of Clive. The trip is an adventure the two have been dreaming of for years and with the extra twists on the adventure he gets the chance to meet a girl and help an alien get home. Simon is good in this role showing he can bring different levels of comedy.
Nick Frost: Clive Gollings is the best friend of Graeme who is a comic book writer and author who has dreamed of meeting an alien one day. When Paul enters their lives he gets to learn to take more chances in life. Nick is good in this role once more using his comedy skills in a different role again.
Seth Rogen (Voice): Paul is the alien who has been trapped on Earth for decades but learning that the humans want to experiment on him he wants to return home, on the run he hitchhikers with Graeme and Clive in a mission to get home. Seth gives a good performance as the voice of the alien.
Jason Bateman: Agent Zoil is the lead agent trying to track down Paul, he is taking commands from The Big Guy as he comes of ruthless but also lone wolf. Jason is good as this agent after the alien.
Support Cast: Paul has very stereotypical characters that we could expect to see in America.
Director Review: Greg Mottola – Greg gives us a very enjoyable comedy from start to finish.
Adventure: Paul gives us an adventure that normal people could go on with the twist of an alien.
Comedy: Paul has good moments of comedy throughout which has something all fans of different comedy.
Sci-Fi: Paul brings us an alien in what is now a normal world for him never out to hurt anyone.
Settings: Paul puts on the route that all alien enthusiast would be looking to go on.
Special Effects: Paul uses the effects to create the alien in the world.
Suggestion: Paul is one for all the comedy fans to enjoy. (Watch)
Best Part: The Adventure.
Worst Part: Ruth is annoying.
Funniest Scene: Comic book store.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Budget: $40 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes
Tagline: There were many sights they planned to see. This was not one of them.
Overall: Fun filled comedy that is fun from start to finish.
Rating
