Viewed in
2011
Formats
DVD
Premise
Two vacationing British nerds (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) encounter a tactless extra-terrestrial (voiced by Seth Rogen).
Liked
Science fiction movie shout-outs.
Disliked
Predictable moments.
Thoughts
I was surprised by how consistently funny it was.
Most of the comedy came from its numerous references and jokes about alien genre flicks. As a nerd, I definitely enjoyed the well-written twists on alien invasion movies, as well as dialog and gags regarding Star Wars, Star Trek, and everything geeky in between. All that was missing was Gort. Actually, since the writers, Pegg and Frost, were Brits, I was rather surprised there wasn't any Doctor Who references. I won't spoil it, but the final boss' cameo was perfect.
Aside from the writing, the execution was pretty good too. The trio of Pegg, Frost and Rogen had very strong chemistry, with quality CGI to express Rogen's jokes as the rude, prankish alien. Kristen Wiig had some funny moments as the bible-thumper swept up in the protagonist escapades.
While I got a kick out of the sci-fi jokes, the low-brow physical humor felt run-of-the-mill and didn't elicit much laughter. Same could be said about the predictable moments. Also, the cast's talent was wasted a bit. Blythe Danner's character was pretty much useless and Jason Bateman's character reveal felt very illogical and plot-serving.
I definitely recommend Paul to people familiar with science fiction/alien movies.
What I would change
Made the plot a bit more creative.
Personal
As a current film maker, I can't imagine how expensive it must have been to acquire copyright licenses to make all the sci-fi jokes come to fruition.
