Reviewed By: Emanuel Caros

Paul is a film that ends up being as dumb as its premise might suggest.  Despite a high-caliber cast consisting of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and other great comedians, this one-trick pony of a movie can't overcome the vulgar, CGI alien voiced by the gruff, smoker's tone of Seth Rogan.  

Mind you, there are plenty of laughs to be had; but they're primarily in the first act.  That's because the writers (and stars: Pegg & Frost) took the "running gag" to a whole new level, and that's not a good thing.  Aside from little quips here and there, the film relies on just 3 jokes throughout the 104-minute runtime: the ambiguous relationship of the two male leads, Kristen Wiig's newfound filthy mouth, and alien nudity.  Of the three, the only one that doesn't bore by the 6th occurrence is Wiig's constant stream of obscenities; which could warrant an entire movie of its own.

Surprisingly, the usually endearing partnership of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, & Hot Fuzz) falls flat here.  What sets up as two best friends living out their lifelong nerd-dream at Comic-Con is never fully fleshed out, and thus any shortcomings in their portrayal have to be resuscitated by bit players like Bill Hader, David Koechner, and Jane Lynch.  Luckily for audiences, those three provide for the funnier scenes in the movie, which would be lacking otherwise.  The CGI alien, Paul, is weird; and made that much more awkward by the clear disconnect between the live-action actors and the post-production animation seen on-screen.  This obscure dynamic is never more apparent than during a painful dance sequence between the three protagonists. 

It is obvious that the film is one gigantic nod to all things sci-fi and nerdy.  At times, it felt like Fanboys on steroids, harmful side-effects and all.  But with a surprising R rating, it seems as though Paul would've been better off with a few less f-words, and packaged for younger, broader audiences.   

5/10