Paul
Published 2011-06-20
Film info
- Title Paul
- Director Greg Mottola
- Year 2011
- Run time 1hr 44m
- Genres Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction
- Tagline Who's up for a close encounter?
- Cast Seth Rogen, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver
Two geeky Brits, Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings, are driving across the United States in a hired van to a comic book convention in San Diego. As they pass by Area 51, a military base known for multiple UFO sightings, they accidentally pick up an alien, Paul, and before long their quiet road trip has turned into an intergalactic adventure.
Live Blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:32 | Who calls their dog Paul? |
| 2:45 | Comic-con! |
| 6:52 | I have only heard of Roswell and Area 51 on their road trip plans. Must investigate further. |
| 8:24 | Is that Sue Sylvester again? She's in so many things! |
| 11:28 | There's an actual extraterrestrial highway? |
| 11:57 | To investigate: the black mailbox. |
| 13:50 | They blinded each other. Hehe. |
| 20:15 | If I see an alien, my first reaction wouldn't be to strangle it. |
| 22:07 | "Like a cold, I caught it." |
| 23:38 | Aliens like marmite. Well, Paul does anyway. |
| 27:01 | "I heard about England. No guns." |
| 28:43 | I like that the music sounds like The X Files. |
| 29:27 | Oooh, I want to time travel. |
| 33:14 | "You should go." And she went. Bless! |
| 34:57 | Some spaceship related problems. |
| 41:27 | "He's not evil, he's just a bit rude." |
| 42:40 | He doesn't want spoilers. |
| 49:04 | Surely it would take her a while to get used to her new spacial awareness and stuff. |
| 58:58 | That's an advert not to do drugs? |
| 59:19 | We're like bonafide BFFs. |
| 1:01:06 | I love his cracking back. Mr C, not so much. |
| 1:04:49 | She's definitely changed if Darwin is her fake name. |
| 1:10:36 | That's so cool! I want to do a u-turn like that. |
| 1:13:57 | Did she leave the gas on? |
| 1:17:59 | She did leave the gas on. Not much left of that farm. |
| 1:22:08 | I like Paul, he doesn't read the instruction manual. |
| 1:33:40 | There must be some significance to the fact that he gave him all his knowledge. |
| 1:25:30 | Mork. |
| 1:28:04 | Paul will do his thing. |
| 1:32:25 | Hmm, BTTF line. I don't know how I feel about that. |
| 1:36:57 | Excellent credit stuff. |
Thoughts
Mr C and I have seen a few trailers for Simon Pegg films, but we've never really been brave enough to dip into watching a full one because it's a kind of humour that we find a bit hit or miss. However, Paul was heartily recommended to us by a family member, so we decided to give it a whirl.
I definitely enjoyed this film. There were some big laugh moments throughout, although there were other less funny bits that felt a bit weird. Overall the balance leant towards brilliant, though.
The start felt slow, and not that it wasn't good, but it took them twenty minutes to find the alien. A lot of the stuff that happened set up running jokes through the film, so it certainly paid off, but watching it for the first time, I didn't know that. I just wanted the alien to turn up.
I don't know why that BTTF line bugs me so much, maybe just because it should have been better. Teeth. Really? I don't mind film references, so I shouldn't be annoyed just because it's my favourite film. Anyway, these are all niggles, it's still a good score for Paul.
Rating: 4 / 5