As two nerdy Brits, Nick Frost (left) and Simon Pegg are shocked and awed when their sci-fi dreams come true. (
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Simon Pegg, Kristen Wiig, Nick Frost and “Paul” Seth Rogen (
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‘Paul” takes us to a strange and terrible place populated by misshapen, asexual freaks — San Diego’s Comic-Con — in the process of reinventing “E.T.” as a Seth Rogen movie. Naturally Paul’s likes include Reese’s Pieces and weed.
After “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reteam to write and star in another fond genre salute, this one bouncy with the fanboy pleasures of such classics as “E.T.,” “Aliens” and, um, “Mac and Me.” Set your humor-detection capacitors for moderate to above-average intake levels. I haven’t laughed this much since maybe last Monday, but that was a particularly strong Monday.
Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) are sci-fi-loving English nerds on holiday in San Diego and the American Southwest, where they seek out the holiest shrines in the-truth-is-out-there lore, such as Roswell and the Black Mailbox. One vehicular mishap later, their RV is a hiding place for an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) whose spaceship crash-landed in the desert in 1947 and who has spent the decades since advising governments and other critical institutions. “Agent Mulder was my idea,” he brags.
Now the G-men, led by a ruthless Man in Black (Jason Bateman) and his double-ruthless boss the Big Guy (not a guy but something far scarier — Sigourney Weaver) want to trap Paul so they can harvest his brain cells. If there are any left after Paul smokes all the military-grade pot he can carry.
There may come a day when I tire of Seth Rogen’s shtick but I hope it doesn’t come soon. (Yes, I loved “The Green Hornet”). His sarcastic insults and Transgalactic Delta House ebullience keep things rolling along (even if the gay jokes are a little stale) as the boys pick up more enemies and a kindly one-eyed fundamentalist Christian (the indispensable Kristen Wiig) who says of Paul, “He’s not evil. He’s just a bit rude.”
After Paul transfers to her all the knowledge of the universe, she gives up her faith in God but becomes a devoted curser, even if she doesn’t quite understand which dirty words to use in which contexts. Her attempts are adorable. “I can drink?” she marvels. “I can fornicate?” Brave new world! The character is so lovable it’ll be difficult for anyone to take offense, except maybe the fiercest Darwin haters. (She sports a T-shirt showing Jesus shooting Darwin.)
Bateman has rarely had the opportunity to play a snarling lawman, but with his cool aviators and his bristling putdowns he’s perfect, too, and Pegg and Frost are generous enough (and smart enough) to spread the comedy opportunities around, even supplying a Monty Python moment involving Weaver and a chance for Blythe Danner to go all badass.
The laughs get a bit thin during a lengthy chase scene reminiscent of the overly busy climax of Rogen’s “Pineapple Express,” but things pep up nicely for a very Steven Spielberg ending. If Steven were, you know, just goofing around and drinking beer with his buds. Lines like, “Bring me back my space monkey,” “Hey — probing time!” and “Sorry you got killed by my dad” make “Paul” a sweetly quotable close encounter of the nerd kind.