Review

Review Date: 20-March-11
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Paul (2011)

As robotic aliens trash Los Angeles in Theater 3, the lighthearted comedy Paul offers a close encounter of a different kind. Conceived by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), and directed by Greg Mottola (Adventureland), Paul follows a little green man who takes a road trip through the American West with two British nerds on holiday. In fact, Paul sort of hijacks the aid and RV of comic book writers Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) after crashing a stolen government car. Having escaped the secret compound where he has lived since arriving on Earth 60 years ago, Paul needs to keep moving away from his keepers (who now want to dissect him) and towards a rendezvous with his mother ship. If his plight sounds like E.T.'s, this is convergence instead of coincidence, since Paul is the guy who gave Spielberg his idea in the first place. You see, Paul is both saturated in and integral to pop culture, a wisecracking alien-American who thinks anal-probing jokes are tired and whose scrawny body, bulbous head, and big eyes have defined the image of spacemen for a population that doesn't know he exists.

Paul is completely believable as a character thanks to seamless animation and the instant-buddy quality of Seth Rogen's voice. He is also completely likable, an intelligent jokester who stops short of being obnoxious. His easygoing charm, along with the proven accessibility of Pegg and Frost, helps the movie avoid the sneering tone that sometimes adheres to spoofs. The many geek references, from Star Trek to Star Wars to Comic-Con, are presented in an affectionate and inviting way. Graeme and Clive aren't mocked for their lack of sophistication and their bromance and, of course, one even gets a shot at love when a second accidental hijacking adds a repressed but curious religious freak (Kristen Wiig) to their group. Only the pursuing government agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, and a tantalizing voice preceding a cameo) display a truly mean streak, which may account for why they seem stilted and their downfalls overly harsh. Every chase movie needs a bad guy in the rear (no, that wasn't an anal-probing joke), but the bad guys are almost unwelcome in this tribute to friendship, fanboy wonder, and the hugeness and variety of the universe.

Copyright © 2011 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.