There’s a moment early on in Paul when you realize this movie is not here to change your life. It is here to make you laugh at jokes about Comic-Con, government conspiracies, and alien anatomy. And if you’re in the right mood (maybe a little nostalgic, maybe a little wine-drunk), it completely works.
Paul follows two British sci-fi superfans, Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost), who are taking the nerdiest road trip across America ever documented on film. They’re visiting all the alien-related hotspots: Area 51, Roswell, maybe a roadside attraction shaped like a UFO if there’s time. Basically, imagine the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens but with more snacks and fewer theories that involve the pyramids.
Enter Paul, an actual alien voiced by Seth Rogen, who has just escaped from decades of government captivity and immediately wants to bum a ride, light up a joint, and maybe teach someone how to swear better. Paul looks like your standard gray extraterrestrial, but he talks like your college roommate who once tried to pitch you a business idea involving a taco truck and cryptocurrency. He’s chill. He’s crude.
The trio (plus Kristen Wiig as a sweet, sheltered Christian woman who gets a crash course in evolution and profanity) hit the road while being chased by various agents of the U.S. government. There’s the always-welcome Jason Bateman, dead serious as the lead agent who is way too competent for this particular assignment, and a couple of bumbling sidekicks who feel like they wandered in from another movie and decided to stay.
What makes Paul work isn’t just the sci-fi references or the road trip hijinks. It’s the vibe. This movie is like hanging out with friends who love Star Wars a little too much and want to talk about it at a diner at 2 AM. It’s a love letter to fandom before fandom turned into internet warfare. It’s silly. It’s affectionate. It’s loaded with Easter eggs and Spielberg nods and the occasional anal probe joke because let’s be honest, this is a Seth Rogen alien movie and restraint is not on the menu.
The humor ranges from sharp and clever to “that’s incredibly dumb but I’m laughing anyway.” There’s slapstick. There’s sarcasm. There’s a surprising amount of heart, especially in the way the movie handles friendship, belief systems, and the idea that maybe the truth really is out there…and maybe it just wants to crack open a beer.
If you missed Paul when it first came out in 2011, now’s a great time to catch it on Netflix. It’s aged surprisingly well, even if some of the jokes might feel like they were written by someone who just discovered Reddit. The chemistry between Pegg and Frost is still charming. Rogen’s voice work gives Paul enough personality to make you forget you’re basically watching a talking blob of CGI. And the ending, somehow, manages to be both ridiculous and kind of sweet.
Paul is not going to win any awards for subtlety. But it knows exactly what kind of movie it is. It’s goofy. It’s geeky. And it’s having a great time beaming those vibes straight into your living room.
OUR RATING
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