Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner
Director Greg Mottola
Released 2011
Plot Two hapless British sci-fi geeks, on a road tour of the famous UFO sites of America, meet a real fugitive extra-terrestrial named Paul.
Best on Film Rating ★★★ FIVER
Well now. Another alien film.
Written by and starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead fame.
Righty-ho then.
You can kind of tell by these credentials that from the off this film was going to be no ordinary alien flick. And you’d be right. It certainly intrigued the hell out of me – and when I say intrigued, I mean made me want to run for the hills, considering the “comedy” Shaun of the Dead turned out to be (* cough * HORROR * cough *).
It did take a lot for me to get to the cinema to see this, as my expectations were of half-cocked British jokes aimed at an American audience – which can certainly leave a nasty taste in the mouth of even the most seasoned film critics. But alas, I was left with little choice due to simple film scheduling.
Paul starts off with the obligatory introduction to its two anti-heroes, played by Frost and Pegg, who are attending a comic convention in the USA, meeting their hero who apparently wrote a series of suitably cryptic sci-fi novellas. As a warsie (i.e. mega Star Wars geek) I was impressed to see the several respectful references to the epic trilogy in this scene and others throughout the movie. I became a little more comfortable in my seat.
Following this there are a few scenes in which we see the “high jinks” of them being taken for gay in a mistakenly shared hotel room, by a hotel waiter whose lines made no sense to anyone including me; and of life on the American UFO trail in their faithful camper-van. Not very necessary, nor very funny, in my opinion, but thankfully the film got on with it quite quickly after this minor hiccup.
Cue the dropping of Paul into their simple existence, a real extra-terrestrial now on the run from the American government despite living in Area 51 since his spacecraft crashed on Earth in 1947. Paul is not what one would imagine an alien to be like, personality-wise – in fact he is more like your average American Joe: swearing, drinking, smoking, pistachio-loving with, if you’ll pardon the pun, a very down-to-earth attitude to life.
As the geeks attempt to escort Paul to safety and possibly home, they meet not only a cycloptic bible-basher and her dad, but also various inept members of the FBI hard on their heels. All these supporting characters are cute, very stereotypical and serve their purpose – although sometimes offering some of the best laughs in the film.
Paul also offers a poignancy not usually found within Frost and Pegg’s work – particularly through Paul’s ability to heal. Not to give away any spoilers in relation to this, but it is through his selflessness in this respect that we really start to care for his character, which is so important for something that is essentially just an actor’s voice and a bit of computer wizardry. As usual, I must hand it to the tech guys for their excellent work on bringing this little guy to life and making him really act.
So in all, yeah, it’s funny. It even references E.T. sometimes, which is very brave but it works. There are some unexpected twists that are always a plus. So pretty good, but I wouldn’t spend money on a cinema ticket for it, as it’s just not worth it.
No no, this is more suited to a lads’ night in with pizza and a few beers. Buy the DVD and let it collect dust in your collection for a while before re-watching when “in the mood”. It’s that sort of movie, but to be fair, it never claimed to be anything more than that.
Phone Home.
LMB