The two man-boys from Spaced, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, are back together in another movie, without the third member of the triumvirate, director Edgar Wright. Following the success of their brilliant zom-rom-com SHAUN OF THE DEAD, and the less impressive cop movie homage HOT FUZZ, the Siren call of Hollywood was inevitable. Wright went on to make comicbook adaptation SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD, which had mixed success and was marred by a miscast lead. Pegg and Frost, on the other hand, have continued doing what they do best – buddy movies based around their favourite genres. The strength of their films has always come from their chemistry and Pegg's writing, which combines great comedy chops with an obsessive knowledge of genre cinema and geek culture: basically writing about what he knows best. It was those attributes that made Spaced the cult hit series that it was and Paul is a return to that form, but with an American spin on it – and it works. It also helps that, for a US movie, it was directed by Greg Mottola, whose understanding of geek comedy has been amply demonstrated in the hit movies SUPER BAD and ADVENTURELAND.
As PAUL is a movie about aliens and comicbook/sci-fi geeks it makes sense that it should be set in the US. Not only is Comic-Con the world's biggest geek fest, making it an appropriate place to start, it is also more obsessed with UFOs and aliens than most other countries – and there is the mythical Area 51, which serves as a destination for the pair of visiting British geeks, whose behaviour is also alien to the locals.
As the pair head on their road trip across the US, in a hired RV, in search of alien hotspots, they witness a car accident from which emerges a cigarette-smoking, shorts-wearing alien called Paul (voiced by the gruff, deep throat of Seth Rogen). Paul convinces the pair that his life is in danger because the government has come to the end of their use with him and he needs to escape. The trio are soon being pursued by man in black Special Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman), and a pair of less-than-competent agents. Along the way, the trio of fugitives inadvertently kidnap a young fundamentalist Christian (Kristen Wiig), whose faith in the word and creationism is soon shattered.
Even on a superficial level, as a romantic, road movie, which happens to have a foul-mouthed, stoner alien, this film is great and filled with the type of humour that we have seen from Mottola in the past. What really sets it apart is Pegg/Frost's screenplay that is full of visual and vocal gags that reference the whole history of sci-fi cinema. Some of them are obvious (ALIEN, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS), while others are so obscure that only hardcore sci-fi geeks will pick them up. Watching it again on DVD gives you a chance to pick up any you may have missed the first time around. I started watching with the commentary track, which is quite amusing, hoping to see if they revealed any of the homages, but switched it off after a while as it was too much like being in the cinema with a bunch of people who insist on talking the whole way through the movie. Maybe on another occasion I'll listen the whole way through. Of course, being the geeks that they are, the DVD/Blu-ray has no shortage of special features and silliness.
If you've enjoyed the other outings of this latter-day geeky Laurel and Hardy, this is their best yet, even without Wright at the helm. That might seem like sacrilege to the legion of SHAUN fans, and it is in no way to denigrate it because it is still a brilliant, uniquely British take on zombie movies, but PAUL is a more finely crafted movie with a greater universal (pun not intended) appeal, even for US audiences, who will better relate to it. Besides, sci-fi is so much more interesting than zombie flicks.
PAUL is out now on DVD and Blu-ray and is available from Play and all good retailers.
