Release Date (UK DVD) – 13th June 2011
Runtime – 104 minutes
Director – Greg Mottola
Country – UK
Certificate (UK) – 15
Starring – Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio
Fans of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead are in for a real treat this week as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost make a hilarious return to our screens with Paul, released on UK DVD and Blu-ray on the 13th June, with extras that include an extended feature, ‘The Evolution of Paul‘, full commentary by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Greg Mottola, and a blooper reel.
Set in America’s UFO heartland, Paul follows the adventures of sci-fi geeks Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) as they take a geeks’ holiday driving through some of America’s most infamous extra-terrestrial locations. Little do they expect to meet a real-life alien — Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) — who hitches a lift aboard their RV as he seeks to evade federal agents and return to his mother ship. Paul isn’t your typical alien; he drinks, he smokes, he swears like a trooper and loves to make rude gestures out of car windows. For the past 60 years he has been ‘hanging out’ at a top-secret military base, and now the military has had enough of him he has made his break for freedom and is trying to find his way back home.
The first thing to say about Paul is that it has all the hallmarks of another Pegg and Frost classic. If you liked Hot Fuzz, you will simply love Paul. The jokes are non-stop, and the green-hued protagonist Paul is a hilarious counter to popular alien conceptions. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are in typically fine form, and are supported by a fine cast that includes Jason Bateman as the typical ‘man in black’ and features a fitting cameo from one of sci-fi’s most recognisable stars.
There really isn’t that much not to like in Paul. While some critics have argued that Paul is slightly more ‘dumbed down’ for American audiences than its satirical predecessors Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, I really don’t feel the film suffers for its slightly less satirical comedic approach. Sure, the jokes are a bit more obvious, and the anti-religion gags are cheap, repetitive and a little un-needed, but then just as Shaun pokes fun at zombie movies, Paul pokes fun at the whole sci-fi thing – the God question included.
I’ll be honest here: I wasn’t th
at big a fan of some of Pegg’s more recent works. I found the likes of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People a little too cringe-worthy for my own tastes, but with Paul and the return of Nick Frost as his comedy partner-in-crime, Pegg has made a genuinely funny, genuinely cool film that will appeal to far more than the typical ‘geek’ crowd that the film perhaps sees as its primary market. If you haven’t seen Paul yet then I really do recommend you do. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Paul is out on DVD and Blu-ray on June 13th – pre-order it here
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