Paul: Critic Reviews

Finds its own shambling, syncopated rhythm.

What makes the film largely work, despite its occasional slackness and over-trodden terrain, is its overall affability (and smutty words).

An affectionate comic pastiche of ET-type science fiction pictures.

The problem is self-indulgence and a distinct shortage of real gags.

It's not out of this world, but Paul is just spacey enough to convince us the truth is out there. And buzzed.

It's more than occasionally cute, if less than consistently clever.

Never achieves the exhilarating feat of exemplifying the types of Hollywood movies it wants to unpack. The airline's lost their luggage.

That's not to dismiss Paul's simple pleasures -- if nothing else, its fondness for sex and drugs and four-letter words rescues its references from the soft hands of wee ones into which they've fallen of late.

While Frost is particularly well-cast, most of the actors seem to be having fun. You will, too, as long as you arrive with lowered expectations.

Think of Paul as a love letter to fanboys, especially the variety that knows the standards well enough to hoot along every time a sci-fi hit rings up a reference.

In the end - as well as the middle and maybe even at the outset - Paul is more often a close encounter of the middling kind.

It's C-minus work from people who normally deliver A-level efforts.

The CGI alien is very well articulated, and Rogen is a virtuoso at mixing motormouthed rudeness with a hint of tenderness to take off the edge.

What happened here?

Here's a movie that teeters on the edge of being really pretty good and loses its way.

What has happened to Pegg? Why does he mug so? Why can't he relax and let the audience come to him, rather than auditioning for our affection with every reaction shot?

[Pegg and Frost'] successes seem to have functioned as a supermagnet, attracting not only the skilled comedy director Greg Mottola but a supporting cast that could sustain two or three movies on its own.

Because of the lethargic pace, cheeky jokes become positively jowly. And the easy lampoons of rednecks and bible thumpers beg to be called "Close Encounters of the secondhand."

Missteps aside, there are lots of good ideas packed into the movie.

The results are, again, not-quite-brilliant but funny enough.

A celebration of sci-fi flicks, fanboys and good, old-fashioned bromance, "Paul" is a thoroughly enjoyable road trip.

Part bromance, part sci-fi spoof and all a bit disappointing.

Set your humor-detection capacitors for moderate to above-average intake levels. I haven't laughed this much since maybe last Monday, but that was a particularly strong Monday.

There's only so much humor you can wring from the f-bomb, even if you are a cute animated alien who is fond of his weed and his anal probe jokes.

A simple, entertaining road-trip movie that doesn't ask us to do much more than strap in and enjoy the trip.