Paul
Stream
Rent & Buy
For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run.
What critics thought
Critics landed in genuinely different places on this one. Enthusiasts found it a warm, funny love letter to sci-fi geekery; skeptics felt the homage-heavy premise never fully ignites, coasting on Pegg and Frost's charm without giving them enough actual jokes to work with. The alien Paul himself became a specific flashpoint: some found the central conceit delightful, while others thought the character too familiar and predictable to carry the film. British critics tended to be harsher than their American counterparts, and even fans noted it doesn't reward rewatching the way Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz do.
“Broader and more accessible than either Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, Paul is pure Pegg and Frost — clever, cheeky, and very, very funny. You'll never look at E.T. in the same way again.”
Empire
“Paul proves the weak link. One problem is that Mr. Rogen, however comically inclined, has become overexposed, and there's just something too familiar and predictable about this voice coming out of that body.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“it never feels more than a rough sketch of a bigger, much funnier movie”
IGN
“a movie that teeters on the edge of being really pretty good and loses its way. I'm not sure quite what goes wrong, but you can see that it might have gone right.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction
Cast & Crew
Greg MottolaDirector
Simon PeggGraeme Willy
Nick FrostClive Gollings
Seth RogenPaul (voice)
Jason BatemanAgent Zoil
Kristen WiigRuth Buggs
Bill HaderHaggard
Blythe DannerTara Walton
Joe Lo TruglioO'Reilly
John Carroll LynchMoses Buggs
Jane LynchPat Stevenson
David KoechnerGus
Jesse PlemonsJake
David ArnoldComposerNick FrostWriterSimon PeggWriter
Lawrence SherCinematographyPaul
For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run.
What critics thought
Critics landed in genuinely different places on this one. Enthusiasts found it a warm, funny love letter to sci-fi geekery; skeptics felt the homage-heavy premise never fully ignites, coasting on Pegg and Frost's charm without giving them enough actual jokes to work with. The alien Paul himself became a specific flashpoint: some found the central conceit delightful, while others thought the character too familiar and predictable to carry the film. British critics tended to be harsher than their American counterparts, and even fans noted it doesn't reward rewatching the way Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz do.
“Broader and more accessible than either Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, Paul is pure Pegg and Frost — clever, cheeky, and very, very funny. You'll never look at E.T. in the same way again.”
Empire
“Paul proves the weak link. One problem is that Mr. Rogen, however comically inclined, has become overexposed, and there's just something too familiar and predictable about this voice coming out of that body.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“it never feels more than a rough sketch of a bigger, much funnier movie”
IGN
“a movie that teeters on the edge of being really pretty good and loses its way. I'm not sure quite what goes wrong, but you can see that it might have gone right.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction
Cast & Crew
Greg MottolaDirectorSimon PeggGraeme WillyNick FrostClive GollingsSeth RogenPaul (voice)Jason BatemanAgent ZoilKristen WiigRuth BuggsBill HaderHaggardBlythe DannerTara WaltonJoe Lo TruglioO'ReillyJohn Carroll LynchMoses BuggsJane LynchPat StevensonDavid KoechnerGusJesse PlemonsJakeDavid ArnoldComposerNick FrostWriterSimon PeggWriterLawrence SherCinematographyStream
Rent & Buy