Dir. Greg Mottola, Spain/France/UK/USA, 2011, 104 mins,
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen. Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Blythe Danner, Sigourney Weaver
Review by Dee Pilgrim
There has been a steady flow of late of English comedy to America. Some of these exports have survived their trip across the Atlantic very well; others have got slightly lost in translation. Now it is the turn of comedy writing/acting partners Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who, after scoring home grown goals with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, mark their big American debut with Paul, the tale of an alien who just wants to get home and the two sci fi nerds who help him on his way.
Brit sci fi geeks Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) have booked their trip of a lifetime to a science fiction convention in the States. While there they hire what would once have been called a camper van but is now referred to as a Recreational Vehicle (RV) in order to tour the UFO hot spots. The boys are hoping to see unexplained lights in the sky but what they don’t bargain on is a little green man who goes by the name of Paul (voiced by Rogen) hitching a ride in their wheels.
Paul, who likes Marmite, getting high and wandering around naked, has escaped a high security facility after 60 years in captivity in order to rendezvous with his mother ship. The well meaning, but frankly quite clueless, Graeme and Clive decide in the spirit of intergalactic relations to turn fugitive and help him. But things don’t go to plan as the boys unwittingly kidnap Ruth (Wiig), a committed Christian trailer park attendant, and soon have the authorities breathing down their necks in a race to recapture Paul before he can vanish off world.
Pegg and Frost have worked together for so long now that they know exactly how to play to their strengths. They are totally believable as a couple of sci fi geeks because in essence, that’s what they are and so the film is peppered with scenes that are knowing (and loving) nods to famous science fiction movies (ET, Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien). Given the presence of Seth Rogen as Paul, the boys own humour — farting, lager drinking, swearing — never becomes overbearing, mainly due to the presence of Wiig who makes Ruth warm, sweet and rather simple.
In fact, it is this sweet warmth that pervades the whole movie, giving it an almost child-like sense of wonder. This is especially true in the scene where Paul apologises to Tara (Blythe Danner), the old lady who was once the little girl who comforted him, when he crash landed on her dog all those years ago.
There’s a thoroughly satisfying ending when the baddie gets her comeuppance and enough laughs along the way to ensure the feel good factor stays with you once you leave the cinema. Pegg and Frost have learned that the secret to this kind of gentle comedy is to treat your source material (or storyline) with reverence and carry your audience along with you rather than beating them over the head with a light sabre.
