Paul is a film that has plenty of laughs even from early on in the film if you are watching the Directors cut. It has a lot of subtle hints to other science fiction films which makes it even more entertaining for sci-fi lovers.
The film is about two British Science Fiction lovers, Greame Willy (Simon Pegg) and Clive Collins (Nick Frost), who go on a road trip of UFO hotspots in America after going to comic con. They then viewed a car incident along the Nevada State Route 357, which they soon found out that the car was driven by an alien named Paul (Seth Rogen). They then make there journey to get the alien back home with many different issues along the way.
It was written and stared by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost which is has similar style of other films that they have also written and stared in such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. It's similar in the sense that it is a relaxed, laid back film which the plot could be enjoyed by the whole family but often has explicit language and often have a heavy handed slapstick violence which wont be suable for children and young viewers. The unsuitability for children and young people is demonstrated with the age limit put on all the films. Such as age limit on most of the films which stared Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is 15. Both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are well known for a lot of Comedy, Science Fiction and Action films.
It is said in a review, The Telegraph, that Paul is like “ET meets Superbad” which I agree with. It is also described as it's a bit like the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With these mix of films it makes this particular film is rough around the edges but it makes it more enjoyable to watch. The director and the scriptwriters wanted Paul (the alien) to be deliberately human, not perfect. But Paul had a big influence in popular culture which goes beyond the idea that aliens are on planet earth and held in a secret bace.
The film has plenty times that it is funny but through out the whole film I felt that there were to much swearing. For about 20 minutes the swearing was alright and made the jokes funny but after that it just seemed to be that the swearing was overused. This is shown in the film with Ruth Buggs (Kirsten Wiig). It was understandable that in the film that she was new to swearing and it was entertaining to start with but it stared to become repetitive. Also there was a joke that they repeated more than once where just about everyone doesn’t know who Adam Shadowchild (Jafferey Tambor) is. I felt that after the first time was enough and all the other times that the joke was being used was too much. The joke was no longer funny.
A number of critics are disappointed by the film, either after comparing it with other Simon Pegg and Nick Frost films or other similar family Alien films (e.g. ET, Mac and Me) and the amount of non-family-friendly language it uses. I agree with the critics in a way that if you compare it to other films that was written and stared Nick and Simon also comparing it with other similar films to Paul then I am slightly disappointed. There is fewer laughs than I thought that there would be and some of the Sci-fi references were too neach for the majority of people to get. I felt that you needed to either Nick Frost or Simon Pegg to be able to get the joke.
Another critic commented on Seth Rogen's character. They were criticizing the fact that Seth has such a good screen presents that if they was going to use him in the film, then have him in the film not as a voice for a character. This is debatable because the film needed someone to be the voice for Paul and the person need to be able to be rude but likeable. They needed to be able to fit into this characteristics because this is what Paul is presented. I believed that Seth was the right person for this because he is the sort of person that is able to swear in such a way that he is still likeable afterwards. He is able to transfer what he is expressing in his body into his voice.
If I don't compare the film to any other film made by, or stared Nick and Simon, then it is a film that is very funny with plenty of Star Wars and Star Trek references. (Sometimes you have to know the films well and have to be concertinaing to find the references, which sometimes spoils the joke.) They also have jokes about the unanimity of Sci-fi writers, Creationists and Aliens (mostly about probing). I did feel that the film was against Christians and making them look like complete loonies and unreasonable people which made me feel a little uncomfortable. It's not until I watch it few times when I realised that they making fun of a very neach sort of person.
The film is a good film if you haven't seen any other Simon Pegg and Nick Frost films or if you want to see a light hearted film about a rude Alien trying to get home. It's not a film for people that are sensitive to bad language or have strong views on divine creation. You will need to have good working knowledge in Science Fiction movies to get a lot of the little jokes but the film still has many jokes that the non sci-fi fan will find funny. There are jokes that are repeated and may not be funny by the end of the film but has a quality to the film of 'realness' to the film. It really makes you feel that, 'that might actually happen to me' to the film. There are also plenty of stereotypes references in the film which a lot of them are blatantly obvious but you can tell that they are light hearted and funny.
