21 March 2011

Paul

paul pegg frost nerds

I want to like Seth Rogen, I really do. I can honestly say I liked his performance in Observe and Report, and he did a Kevin Smith movie which was pretty cool, but aside from those I don’t really get him. I really don’t think his voice was right for the titular alien from this movie, although most people seem to disagree with me. I guess it doesn’t matter that much.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the other hands, I deeply love. I'm a big fan of British sensibilities in comedy and these guys have been consistently great in whatever they do together. I suppose a good part of their greatness can be attributed to working with Edgar Wright, but they did well enough with this one that my faith hasn’t waivered much.

The story is about two British nerds visiting the United States to attend Comic-Con and take a road trip to historic locations related to extra-terrestrial contact, because they’re nerds. I’ve done neither of these things so I guess I haven’t quite made it to their level yet. On their way to one of said locations, they happen to meet an alien who’s been cooped up in Area 51 for sixty years and wants to leave, so they decide to help him out after they come to grips with the totally awesome reality they’re now facing. The alien, Paul, turns out to be a lot like them, and also a lot like Seth Rogen. He’s basically a nerd stoner who happens to also have a huge gray head and the ability to make himself invisible to heal things empathically. After meeting a few more colorful characters and having some discussions on bromance, the new friends manage to rendezvous with Paul’s rescue party and send him home.

It’s a sacrilegious road-comedy with sci-fi. Pretty great combination if you ask me. It’s also jam-packed with nerdy in-jokes and film references, probably quite of few of which I missed; but those that I got had me slapping my knees in the prideful thought that I too am a nerd, and have seen things that other people have seen. Pegg and Frost are great as usual, and I think Rogen’s character improved a little as the movie went on. I can’t say the bromance bit was very affecting for me, but it was at least made more believable after seeing very similar characters in Spaced.

It’s a really funny movie. I’m not sure it would have the same effect for those that haven’t seen many sci-fi movies, but it has enough low-brow humor to maybe make it a hit with the Apatow-crowd. Good stuff.

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