Review: PAUL Blu-Ray

There's a real mystery at the core of the Greg Mottola-directed Paul: no, not how the Seth Rogen-voiced alien ended up on our planet or even what he's been doing here; not the nefarious motives of Jason Bateman's Agent Zoil, nor the identity of his shadowy boss. No, the actual mysteries, the true sources of bafflement are how two truly affable comedians with such an easy rapport like Simon Pegg and Nick Frost could write such a meandering script with very little in the way of interesting traits for their own characters, how director Greg Mottola, who delivered a dirty comedy with such well-practiced rhythms like Superbad, could produce a film that feels like it lurches from scene to scene with R-rated language seemingly added in during post to maybe convince the unfortunate viewer watching that it's a foul-mouthed romp; most mind-boggling of all, how do you assemble a cast with Pegg, Frost, Kristin Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, and Joe Lo Truglio and then ask them to muddle their way through a road trip comedy that seems afraid to go all the way weird or crazy? Instead, what we get is a turgid, sitcom-y mess that committed the cardinal sin of making me check my watch at least once during the viewing.

The premise is the stuff of broadcast TV simplicity: two stereotypical British nerds (Frost, Pegg) attend their first Comic-Con in San Diego, followed by planned cross-country roadtrip. Along the way they're nearly run off the road by one of those spectacular car crashes that you can only see in modestly-budgeted films, the sedan tumbling over and over onto the side of the road. Not so common is what emerges: a trash-talking alien who stands about four feet tall and has the unlikely gravelly voice of Seth Rogen. The alien, Paul, simply needs help getting back to his mothership and enlists the two pals to help him evade capture by the slick, straight-talking Agent Zoil, played by Bateman. Along the way, they're joined by Christian fundamentalist Kristin Wiig, while Zoil picks up a couple of dim-witted agents played by Lo Truglio and Heder.

I took a cheap shot up above about this being a made-for-broadcast TV plot, when really, in the right hands this could have been something pretty great as quartet make their way across the U.S. in their Winnebago with trigger happy Feds in pursuit. Sadly, it all starts to fell really same-y really fast thanks to a combination of increasingly tiresome, frequent sci-fi callouts and the general sense that once you've seen one roadside greasy spoon and Midwestern structure you've seen them all (and would be happy not to see another one ever again, thank you very much).

Pegg and Frost barely register as very base, very broad characterizations of nerds. Frost is an aspiring novelist who can't seem to finish his book while Pegg is--his artist, I think. The duo's typical bro-mantic chemistry is there but it's grafted on two characters that I can barely remember in spite of having recently seen the film.

Rogen's Paul gets most of the best lines in the movie, although too many of his bits involve his character's clandestine impact on pop culture and science over the last half century. This actually brings up one of the weirdest things about the movie: it never gives us any plausible reason for why the government keeps Paul under lock and key and why Zoil is ordered to bring him back dead or alive. The little alien seems more than happy to give humanity anything it asks for, so what's with the strong arm tactics?

Bateman does a sharper, more refined version of his straightman schtick with a little bit of action movie villain thrown in for good measure. What's surprising here is how capable he is--Tommy Lee Jones' Men In Black character with an itchy trigger finger and a couple of F-bombs thrown in. Meanwhile, Heder and Lo Truglio's do a lot with a little as ambitious, but none-too-bright Federal agents seem like they deserve a story of their own. Finally Wiig's fundamentalist Christian character seems like she should have been a source of some of the movie's best jokes, but--outside of some interesting and rather abrupt evolution to her worldview--the script seems content to play off the fact that she now curses--awkwardly.

I'll cop to laughing out loud once or twice during Paul, but the pleasures here were few and fatally far between. Here's the thing: I respect all of the talent on display here so much that given another opportunity to watch another movie with the same cast, director, and writers, I'd jump right at the chance.

Audio and Video

Universal presents Paul with English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, so you can hear all the rattling explosions, etc. etc. and so on. The video quality really comes alive during some night time and effects-heavy scenes although the HD doesn't do any favors to Paul himself--occasionally, the high video quality allows the effects behind the character to stand out a little and maybe it's the coloring or the lighting, but it's not often that he feels "solid" in the environment.

Special Features

My gripes with the movie aside, Universal has stacked this disc with features. If you're someone who really digs this movie, then by all means, enjoy them. You also get a digital copy and DVD of the film--you know, for when you decide to go on a cross-country trip with your own foul-mouthed little aliens.

Audio Commentary (Theatrical Version Only)
Between the Lightning Strikes: The Making of Paul
BTS Featurettes
The Evolution of Paul
Who the Hell is Adam Shadowchild?
Bloopers
Simon's Silly Faces
Galleries (HD): Six photo galleries from the set.
Trailers and TV Spots
BD-Live Functionality and News Ticker
My Scenes Bookmarking