Ryan McNeil
While I don’t exactly dig in to reviews of films I haven’t seen yet, it’s almost unavoidable to get wind of the overall vibe. Where PAUL is concerned, the general vibe seemed to be humdrum: Nobody was raving, nobody was ranting. However, the one unavoidable element of the general vibe wasn’t what people saw in PAUL, but rather what they didn’t see. “They” seemed to want a third film to go along with SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ.
PAUL isn’t it, which has disappointed some…and that’s unfortunate, because PAUL still is something pretty special.
Two English comic book geeks named Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) have already had a memorable vacation in America at Comic Con. But not wanting to squander the opportunity of a lifetime, the two rent an RV and head off down the highway to visit all sorts of American spots with UFO significance.
While on the road, they see a car mysteriously flip in front of them and roll clear off the highway. Once they pull over and get out to offer help, they’re met with an even bigger surprise. Indeed, the accident had one survivor: an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) who needs their help.
It would seem as though all their experience with UFO stories has served Graeme and Clive well, because they overcome their initial hesitence with remarkable poise and do indeed agree to hep Paul in his quest to get home. This is no easy feat of course, since they have a mysterious agent named Zoil (Jason Batemen) hot on their heels, and a curious Christian named Ruth (Kristen Wiig) along for the ride. Through it all though, Paul remains laid back, and has nothing but faith in his newfound friends.
What makes PAUL special is how it goes just far enough with a lot of what it wants to do without going overboard. This is no small feat when one realizes that the film not only has moments of slapstick and crude humour, but also takes a moment here and there to debate evolution versus intelligent design. Indeed, at every turn, PAUL seemed rife to fail. Instead, PAUL succeeds since everybody involved seemed to understand exactly what sort of movie they were making.
In amongst all of its geekery, PAUL is very much a road movie, and does a good job of dealing with what happens to relationships when they’re tested by the open road. We might feel thick as thieves when we set off from the safe confines towards “parts unknown”, but as movies like PAUL remind us, it doesn’t take much to upset the order of things. Graeme and Clive are so close that people even ask if they’re lovers. However once Paul enters the picture, and bonds a bit more with Graeme than he does with Clive, there’s an imbalance – and quite often that’s the way.
What’s amusing, is that Paul has spent so much time on earth (even if it is in a very familiar warehouse) that he’s able to recognize this. Sure he comes armed with Seth Rogen’s snark, but it comes from a rather genuine place. He has plenty of moments where he has just the right phrase for just the right situation (“That’s Jenga”), but the character also has a great heart. That otherworldly heart goes out to those he has just met like Ruth, Graeme and Clive, but what’s more charming is the way that heart doesn’t forget about the people he’s met through his time on earth.
When we watch Graeme and Clive at Comic Con, it’s clear that they’re amoung their own. It’s a feeling that sci-fi fans will likewise get when watching PAUL it wants us to feel amongst our own. It’s stacked with so many ‘in-jokes’ that I lost count, and every sci-fi hallmark from ALIEN to E.T. gets its moment in the sun. What’s all the more impressive about this, is that such a format could easily stumble into parody. But because PAUL comes from a place of love – namely from two big sci-fi nerds – it remains true…and works beautifully.