Ever since the minor teasers and trailers for Simon Pegg / Nick Frost’s Paul came into existence, I have been holding my breathe on this one. Seriously, the anticipation levels associated with Paul were pretty high. And here I am, after the screening about to announce how did it fair. It was all worth it. So much worth, that it sometimes feels that it was custom made to fit my sensibilities, desires and fulfil my demands (some of which, I didn’t even know existed). Although this is not a part of the so-called ’Blood and Ice cream trilogy’ (which has so far got two in – Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz ), it is bloody difficult to disassociate the bromance of the lead protagonists Pegg and Frost. That is certainly not a problem. I am just stating, that Paul is in a similar vein of bromantic road-movie adventure fused with Sci-Fi awesomeness to the brim. Let me rephrase that – this movie has enough geeky nods to kindle the geek in the non-geek, and enough laughs and tingles to cheer up a tired Monday evening.
Of course, the tone set in the previous two movies of Pegg and Frost, they tend to be some sort of spoof on a certain genre. This one can be loosely termed a spoof/parody on the Alien Invasion genre. But that’s not spoof as in Disaster Movie and Epic Movie. Coz we’ve got some badass shit happening throughout the movie. The language in the movie gets more and more colourful by the minute, and if you are by any chance religious (primarily Christian), be ready for some old-school Scientific education. The publicity team hasn’t been doing much favours to make attract audiences to watch it. So here I am making up for that, screaming out on the top of my voice – WATCH IT.
**Warning…Spoilers ahead.**
Ok, so let’s assume you are not really really interested by the premise of two Brit nerds on their way to San Diego Comic Con discover a pot smoking and foul mouthed Seth Rogen voiced alien and embark on an epic journey. Yes, it does sound like Tom Green and Rob Schneider might just appear in a cameo. But no, as I said before, this is not Disaster movie. Cameos do appear at regular intervals, some more epic than others, and Green and Schneider aren’t involved. There is a minor level of concern that Edgar Wright isn’t directing this – and hence, to some this might not be at the same level as Hot Fuzz or Shaun. But what the heck, who cares of levels when you are having so much fun? Remember the episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. when Monica comments of Chandler’s ability to throw in a joke,joke,joke,joke. This was pretty much like it. It is a laugh-a-thon delivering a laugh a minute throughout its length. Seriously, the last time I had so much fun at the cinema was probably – the Hangover. Again, not comparing. As in a Pegg/Frost movie, the jokes here work awesomely and are brilliantly funny and the references to Back to the Future, Aliens, ET, Close Encounters et al are spot on.
The supporting characters consist of some of the most hilarious acts from Hollywood comedy – Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, David Koechner, Bill Hader, and Jeffrey Tambor and all of them equally punch in their own comic routines. And then we have Jane Stevenson serving sparklers ice-cream, and Blythe Danner punching Sigourney Weaver in the face saying – Get away from her you BITCH! What more could you ask!
Which brings us to Paul, the lead guy – the foul mouthed, wisecracking alien. And he is exactly how I’d want my Alien pal to be. C’mon! Who’s anymore interested in Aliens who can just say – Phone home! Apparently, that idea was given by Paul to Spielberg and Agent Mulder was also his idea. I love him already. Seth Rogen’s distinctive voice settles in the fine CGI animated character effortlessly.
That’s a big list of all positives right out there. It is one of the funniest movies to hit the cinemas in a while, and there’s Sigourney Weaver in it. That should be reason enough for you to buy the ticket.
9e3k rating: 9 Alien Kicks in the Balls out of 10.
I leave you with this awesome collage of the works of Pegg and Frost – Spaced (1999, blimey its that old), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and Paul (2011)
Image courtesy: IMGUR.com
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