Rating of
3/4
"Paul" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 09/02/12
Two English comic book nerds on the road in the American mid west have a close encounter with a stranded alien and decide to help him evade capture by the sinister Men In Black who are pursuing him. The epic ongoing bromance between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost becomes an extra-terrestial menage-a-trois with the addition of Seth Rogen's chain smoking, smart mouthed E.T. in this amusing road movie from the Spaced school. Essentially a homage to John Carpenter's Starman with added dashes of Close Encounters and E.T., Paul has that easy going charm and feel good factor that most American nerd comedies completely miss; there's something much more likeable about a British geek for some reason (maybe it's just because I can relate...) Pegg and Frost play off each other as effortlessly as ever to the point where if I were Pegg's agent I'd make sure he was manacled to Frost on a permanent basis to prevent any more whorish forays into Hollywood schmaltz and dimwitted guest appearances. Paul contains all the same ingredients that made hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead work so well and although some of the humour is a little juvenile it's funny far more often than it's not. Containing the obligatory quotes and references every sci-fi trainspotter will enjoy, this is very much more of the same from the everyone's favourite partners in nerd, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
