Review of Paul (2011) by David C — 26 May 2013

I left the theater liking this movie, after dinner and a drive home of going over all the sci-fi references and other subtle jokes, I loved it. I expect the hardcore Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fans to be let down as this isn't a spoof of alien films, it is a full on fan boy film to the genre, particularly Spielberg movies, actually anything Spielberg, not just SciFi films.

This is a foul mouthed, crude humored, feel good movie. Yes some of the jokes are easy references to mainstream movies of the 80's, but there is inspired laughs and extremely obscure references as well. The best part of the movie is that the character of Paul doesn't dominate the film. Every actor on screen gets a chance to steal the scene and most do, especially Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Jeffrey Tambor. Jason Bateman shines as always with his patented dead pan dry humor, the nice change is that he plays the bad guy quite convincingly.

This is definitely a movie written by geeks, about geeks, for geeks. It will be interesting to see how it is recieved by the non-geek reviewers/audiences.