Movie Review: “Paul”

Holy crap did I laugh at this one. The short form: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the guys behind and in “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” star as an illustrator and a sci-fi author, respectively, who come to the US  to attend ComiCon and then rent an RV to take a trip to Roswell. Along the way they pick up an actual extraterrestrial, Paul, and hijinks ensue.

This is better than “hot Fuzz” and may well be better than “Shaun of the Dead.” Sure, there are a whole lot of “ugly American” stereotypes in the movie… hillbilly rednecks, bad cops, worse Federal agents, Bible-bangin’ Creationists and so on, but it’s still funnier’n hell. The best moment was when the characters go into  a biker bar/road tavern. There is a country & western band playing an instrumental tune. Myself and *one* other guy in the theater caught the joke… the music the band was playing. He and I both laughed ourselves hoarse, while the rest of the theater apparently didn’t catch it.

In a scene sure to annoy the hell out of Poofists, a Young Earth Creationist comes onto the RV and gets in an arguement with Paul over the “blasphemy” of Darwinian evolution. Once again… holy crap did I laugh.

There is just a whole lot of profanity in this flick, much of it coming from Paul. And it all just works.