Frequent collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost team up again to star as a pair of science fiction fans visiting the USA for the San Diego Comic-Con, followed by a road trip from Area 51 to Roswell. The trip is derailed when they encounter Paul, a stranded alien trying to find his way home, voiced by The Green Hornet‘s Seth Rogen. Along the way, the trio are pursued by the relentless Special Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman,) a pair of bumbling cops, and hunters out for vengeance. Kristen Wiig’s Ruth, a fundamentalist Christian, joins and provides both a romantic interest and a lot of the comedy.
While Paul includes salutes to its science fiction roots (including cameos by Sigourney Weaver and Steven Spielberg,) it isn’t a parody, crafting its own story. It’s a story that is surprisingly warm, despite its title character’s propensity for drugs and crude language. In fact, the plot would make for perfect family viewing – so long as all of the family’s members are comfortable with the swearing, shootouts, and crude humour that come with the film’s MA rating.
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