PAUL a review with trailer
April 12th 2011 15:48
PAUL the alien
Directed by Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland) and starring Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Star Trek) with Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The Boat that Rocked ), the screenplay was written by Pegg and Frost and it has its fair share of laughs , many chuckles and a few in-jokes for the sci-fi officiando.
The plot; two British sci-fi comic book nerds, on their trip of a lifetime to the world’s biggest comic book convention in Las Vegas, meet their hero comic book writer, who wasn’t happy about suffering idiots for his art, then embark upon a huge road trip through Nevada to all the nutty UFO tourist trail hot spots and along the way, they run into angry red necks, pick up a ‘real McCoy’ alien and accidentally on purpose kidnap a fundamentalist Christian girl, whose father then sets after them with a loaded shotgun and a Bible, of course.
Paul, replete with American accent (voiced by Seth Rogen) looks like the well known ‘Grey’ aliens, but that is where the resemblance stops. Instead of being an enlightened being from a vastly advanced civilisation, Paul has become like us, at our most low brow level; a booze loving, dope smoking, wise cracking dude, who just wants to utter expletive deletives and party.
However, Paul has a pressing problem at hand; he is on the run from the bad guys, ‘men in black’ types, who have held him hostage for years in a secret facility. Paul crashes a car he stole, and as he cannot drive, crashes it in front of our happy adventurers in the RV.
Paul then convinces the comic book duo to help him get to his rendezvous point, to get off the planet.
Among their adventures, in crossing the centre of America in an RV they can barely control, they have to out run angry red necks, a Bible Belt maniac father chasing after his religious nutter daughter, cops and ‘them’, those sneaky nasty “men in black” dudes, the boss of whom is actually a woman called “the big guy”, played by Sigourney Weaver.
American release Official poster
In fact, there is a slew of cameos, including Spielberg himself, and references to other famous sci-fi films, which makes for some extra chuckles.
This is nowhere near scientific brain food, but, it does what it intends to do, entertain you for the length of the film. However, although I liked the film, it was nowhere near the level of witty and funhouse entertainment that Shaun of the Dead achieved. (Where is Shaun 2? It is way overdue!)
Beware; this film has strong language, libidinous behaviour and challenging views for Christians and believers in God generally. Those facts alone should ensure a huge market within the ranks of college boys, particularly Christian private school boys!
Check out the official site, lots of interactive stuff.
IN CINEMAS APRIL 14th 2011 AUSTRALIA WIDE
Image Permissions and Credits:
All images and trailer presumed copyright owned by Production Company and/or Distributors and Publisher, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Used here to illustrate product for review purposes only, low res. copies not meant for redistribution.
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Mountain Fog
Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by Bryn Tilly
Horrorphile
I'm so over Seth Rogan ... and his voice!
I'm not sold on a Shaun of the Dead sequel at all!!
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
it is worth a look, but, it is no where near side splitting humour!
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yes, puerile is a suitable description, but, it still has quite a few laughs surprisingly.
Re: Rogan, ditto...
Re: Shaun 2 , well, I am pining for a new fabbo zombie flick of the same calibre, and, it depends on where they take it...as long as Edgar Wright is on board, they just might pull off a perfect sequel...I hope I hope I hope...
cheers
fog.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
hehe...love it! Rogan reminds me of Mick Molloy...not funny at all...
cheers
fog
Comment by The wonderful Peter Yang
The First Wonderful Peter Yang's Variety Blog
The New Wonderful Peter Yang's variety blog
Power Ranger Online
TV Online
Solar Energy Pannel
Stay healthy and loose weight
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
it is worth a look, absolutely, unless you loathe Rogan like Dave and Bryn, then avoid at all costs!
It has enough chuckles to carry you along, but, it is not first rate comedy...
cheers
fog
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Pop Rock Factory
Been umming and ahhhing about this one - but suspect the trailer may be about as deep and funny as it gets.
Yes?
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
actually, all the moments in the trailer come across as boring as we have seen them, so that idea backfired on the distributors, but, there are a lot of other chuckles to be had.
It isn't scintillating witticisms at the top of the pole, but, it isn't dreadful either.
It amuses enough throughout the length of the film, albeit I felt more could have been made of some ancillary characters with better comedic skills.
cheers
fog
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I wasn't very impressed with this one at all. Jokes were stuck in a time loop vortex that repeated endlessly, the story was beam me up Scottied and the in the end it barely entertained. Not terrible, just uninspired.
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
long time no type!
I know, I was incredibly generous with this, due to a good mood with a nice friend, but, it really was way below the mark for someone like Pegg to be involved. And there were not a lot of laughs to be had, admittedly.
cheers
fog