Paul (movie)

Tonight, Jamie and I stood outside the only building on the planet to currently contain William Shatner, but alas couldn’t afford to go in. :(

However showing elsewhere on the same block was a film about another big giant head - Paul.


This turned out to be pretty well everything that I expect of a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost road movie, which is mainly a good thing. Drenched in SF knowledge, and I think it may even have had a Shatner lookalike on a TV at one point too, which softened the blow of not being able to see the real thing.

Paul is a grey-type alien who’s been trapped on Earth for decades, bargaining for his safety by offering scientific knowledge in return. And movie ideas. In fact, Paul’s real-life experiences have provided the inspiration for everything from Indiana Jones to The X Files.

Clive: “Agent Mulder was right!”
Paul: “Agent Mulder was my idea!”

It goes without saying that you can’t look at this 2011 deadbeat in alien’s clothing too closely. For example, a being from outside Earth’s culture really shouldn’t be investing quite so much faith in our contemporary theory of evolution, but instead ought to believe a completely unheard of one. (eg. life began in the sun or something) But hey - I can hardly blame the film for having itself been written on Earth in 2010...

If you’re a fan of Pegg and Frost’s work, as am I, then Paul fires-off the pair's usual arsenal of comedy weaponry with dependable accuracy.

Alas, he doesn't narrate spoken-word versions of classic hits though.

Darn it.

(available here)