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 For
fans of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the question that will
linger in your mind as you exit Paul is, ‘What would this have been had
Edgar Wright directed it?’ Indeed, it is hard to imagine writers/stars
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost doing any project together without the third
in their comedy troika. The good news about Paul is that it’s funny;
the bad news is that it could have been funnier, but the bad news really
isn’t so bad.
Graeme
and Clive are childhood pals living out their dream: The pair is in
sunny California surrounded by Stormtroopers, Ewoks, Star Trek’s Gom and
scantily-clad slave girl Princess Leias. They have entered the Geek
Eden known as the San Diego Comic Con, a.k.a. Nerd Paradise. Accepted
there as nowhere else, the friends take their ambitions even farther and
in a good old American Winnebago, set out across the Southwest to tour
all the sites alleged to have been visited by extraterrestrial life.
For all their years of imagining and writing stories about creatures
from outer space, nothing could prepare the two Brits for the visitor
that comes hurtling down in front of them in a flaming car crash. The
diminutive critter is exactly the bulb-headed, giant eyed, green-skinned
character the people of the late twentieth century have always
associated with aliens. What Graeme and Clive couldn’t have expected
was this creature’s understanding of humanity and all its quirks and his
exceeding grasp of the English language -- particularly its swear words.
It turns out the ET with the unlikely name of Paul is a terrible
driver; having crashed his space ship into the earth over sixty years
ago. He’s spent every day since in a military facility in -- you
guessed it -- Area 51. Only a handful of people have ever been allowed
to know of the visitor’s existence which has been pretty boring except
for writing the occasional screenplay (- and gifting it to Steven
Spielberg), listening to Marvin Gaye and taking advantage of the
military’s finest narcotics. With differing degrees of acceptance, the
duo agree to help the alien on the lam and chauffeur the green fella up
north to a rendezvous that will finally send Paul home. The problem
with the whole running away thing is that it usually means there’s
something to run away from. Paul’s keepers at Area 51 aren’t so
thrilled with his little excursion and even if they only plan to kill
Paul and dissect him because they’ve learned all they can from him
alive, they still want him back. A team of secret service agents are
dispatched to retrieve the alien under the scathing command of a woman’s
voice over their walkie talkies. And because that’s not enough danger,
an angry, bible-thumping father tracks the guys like a bloodhound after
they recruit the man’s naïve daughter to their outlaw band. There’s
also a vague threat from a pair of homophobic rednecks who haven’t met
enough Englishmen to understand the sound of the Gaydar siren going off
when Graeme and Clive are near is just part of their DNA.
Paul
is directed by Greg Mottola, who also helmed the excellent Superbad and
episodes of both the underrated Undeclared and the brilliant Arrested
Development. Perhaps it’s his time working under the aegis of Judd
Apatow, but Mottola seems more attuned to the broader humour that Seth
Rogen is associated with than the sharper, quicker-paced comedy we’ve
seen from Messrs. Pegg and Frost in their British features. The scenes
avant-alien, with the guys at Comic Con and on the road visiting
an ET-friendly diner were funny due to their situations (- and Jane
Lynch as a cheerful, big-haired waitress who’d have fit perfectly in Pee
Wee’s Big Adventure) and not so much because of Pegg or Frost
themselves. Once Paul enters the picture that’s pretty much it for fans
of the duo’s proven onscreen chemistry. The quality of the humour even
dips a little; depending primarily on Paul’s simultaneously wise and
profane observances and the chase by the bumbling feds. The story’s
atheist slant became a bit tiresome, as well, despite the excellent
Kristen Wiig as the Christian fundamentalist who refuses to regard
science even with a real live alien from outer space standing right in
front of her. Overall, a lighter touch and a little more cleverness
wouldn’t have been remiss, though it is great when the laughs do find
their mark. The actors’ interaction with the CG alien is seamless and
the concept that a creature so fantastical and advanced turns out to be
an easygoing, foul-mouthed vulgarian with a taste for Reese’s Pieces,
road kill and soul music is a fun one. The good time Pegg, Frost, Wiig
Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Sigourney Weaver are clearly having is
infectious and brings much good will to the works. The movie, packed
full of geek-friendly references from the iconic Star Wars to the
not-as-iconic Mac and Me, definitely has a loopy charm. Certainly, I’ve
seen worse alien-buddy-road-sci-fi comedies … hasn’t everyone?
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
March
17th, 2011
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