“Paul” is an unexpected breath of fresh air in the midst of all of the pollution coming from Hollywood.

I’m a huge sucker for excellent trailers and high expectations, and I’ve been in somewhat of a rut lately when it comes to picking solid flicks. But I decided to give “Paul” a chance.

It’s a road trip comedy about two sci-fi geeks who travel, via a battered RV, to all the alien “hot spots” in the United States. Along their way, they stumble upon Paul, an alien who has been held captive on Earth for several decades.

The two comrades agree to help Paul get to his mother ship but don’t know what they’re getting into. Along their journey, they are chased by federal agents and accidentally kidnap an extremely religious young woman, whose beliefs are frustrated by the very existence of Paul.

I really enjoy the humor of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, both from “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead,” but it’s not for everyone. I’ve met a handful of people who have loved both movies and another group who didn’t understand them at all. I recommend testing one out before diving into this humor genre subsection.

Also, I go back and forth on Seth Rogan, so I was initially a little uncertain with the casting of his voice for the alien, Paul, but he does a magnificent job and I ended up liking the character.

I thought the writing of Pegg and Frost combined with the directing of Greg Mottola, the man who brought us Superbad and Adventureland, made for a great combination. Everything worked extremely well together.

The jokes are smart and crude, and I know science fiction fans will get a good laugh from all of the gestures toward the genre. The lines about people hinting that the two might actually be a couple and the jokes about anal probing got a little old, but in the end, everything ran fairly smoothly.

Paul is definitely an underdog type of movie, and I don’t mean the story. It’s just got a lot stacked up against it from the beginning. Not a lot of people are huge fans of Pegg and Frost’s work, Seth Rogan or alien movies in general, whether they’re comical or action-based.

I think the movie was an overall success just from this standpoint alone. It’s not the best work of Pegg and Frost, but it was definitely still a good ride.

Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, Sigourney Weaver and many others join Pegg, Frost and Rogan.

I give “Paul” an 8.4/10.

Once again, this was Hayden from haydensmovies.com bringing you the latest and greatest in movie news and reviews.

______________________________________________________________________
Hayden Mace/For the Review
Hayden Mace can be reached at [email protected].