Everyone knows who Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are right? You know, there the guys who beat the crap out of zombies with pool cues to Queen’s ?Don't stop me now? and then had a shootout in a supermarket with Timothy Dalton. You know, Timothy Dalton! Him out of that James Bo- nevermind.
Ahh, so now you remember. That's okay though we?ll forgive you, after all it's a pretty reasonable response given the pairs somewhat floundering careers since 2007’s pant-stainingly funny ‘Hot Fuzz’.
The only difference here however is that Edgar Wright, their long time chum and directorial muse is no where insight; replaced instead by that bloke who gave us Superbad and Adventureland (the one where Kristen Stewart isn't dying for a good vampire romp).
Pegg & Frost are back as a double act once again, like a crime fighting duo that disbanded and realized afterwards they were crap without their counterparts.
The pair play British sci-fi geeks Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) who are visiting Comic Con before setting off on a road trip to visit all the best UFO hot spots across New Mexico.
This may sound a little dull and that, in truth, is because it is. The opening 15 minutes lack spark and this period of the film is reduced largely to only a handful of geeky in-jokes and a rather tame stab at a homosexual undercurrent between the pair.
Yawn.
Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz excelled thanks to the intense friction between Pegg and Frost’s characters, but in Paul the polite relationship of Graeme and Clive is pedestrian, verging on boring and lacks any intrigue or insight.
Cue the Marmite loving, reggae dancing, bad mouthing, pot smoking alien Paul.
However, this isn't to say that Seth Rogen who provides the voice of Paul saves the day, far from it; besides we wouldn't want to give his already abnormally large head anymore reason to grow beyond the confines of (what we imagine is) his plush home.
That being said however, the introduction of Paul provides that all important catalyst for proceedings to get a little bit more racy and genuinely humorous – even if it's talking about anal probes.
From here on out the film takes on a whole new dynamic, switching from a rather camp road trip to the thrilling chase movie, as Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) tracks down our little green friend on behalf of the refreshingly badass boss played by Sigourney Weaver. There is a slight wobble midway through the film due to the forced inclusion of Graeme’s bible-bashing love interest Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), but thankfully this isn't enough to knock the film of its impressive momentum.
All-in-all, this love letter to Spielberg is far from perfect. The uneasy mishmash of both American and British humour, while undeniably broader and more accessible to audiences, clearly hinders the comedy duo who lack the potency of their previous collaborations. However, this shouldn?t detract audiences from a film with more than enough quality to warrant watching, for one outing at the very least.
This was a guest post from a chap called James Wright and, quite frankly, he’s a disgusting human being who should be locked away in a very, very dark, damp place. But we love him all the same. He may be a freak, but he’s our freak.
Follow hecklerspray on Twitter or join our Facebook group or BUY ONE OF OUR STUPID T-SHIRTS!
AJ says
Pegg and the other actors play alien baby-killers invading America in a movie out now, but I haven’t heard anything else about it. This is obviously the same movie. It doesn’t look good and it won’t fly from what little nothing’s been said of it.