Review of Paul (2011) by Adam K — 25 Aug 2014

Paul is a really bland iteration of the nerdy guys adventure comedy trope. Like, seriously bland. Its humor relies on a few mediocre callback jokes, heteronormativity, cussing, and primarily the absurd situational stuff. There a few good moments, especially with the FBI agents goofing around.

As per usual in these films, the comedy rides alongside a pretty cheesy, melodramatic, low stakes relationship drama. Unfortunately, the really interesting and unique relationship (Pegg and Frost's hetero partnership) is played for laughs and essentially abandoned as Pegg is granted a wish-fulfilling female partner. This arc is just atrocious and it edges out Frost in really unfortunate ways - when he dies and is resurrected, Frost, his best friend and partner for many years, literally just stands up and exits the shot to allow Wiig to take over the dramatic moment. Wiig's character is a shame in itself. Her beliefs are brutally mocked for the benefit of the nerd audience and then erased by a plot device, against her will, in order to make her into a suitable prize for Pegg. I get why purging someone's mind of fundamentalist religion and opening them up to a hedonic, liberal lifestyle is a fantasy, and I can sympathize, but I think it really cheapens the movie to treat the female character that way.