Paul: the foul mouthed Alien you gotta be a geek to get

Now the title is not disparaging at all to geeks, in fact am quite sad I wasn't geeky enough to get all the references and jokes in this film. I feel I probably would have enjoyed it more had I seen any Alien films or Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

What I have seen in regards to sci-fi helped an awful lot, there are many Star Wars references, especially enjoyable is hearing the Mos Eisley Cantina music played by a country band in a hick bar. Of course even without seeing Alien I recognise the importance of having Sigourney Weaver as a main role, albeit an evil one, and the turning of the tables as Blythe Danner protects Paul screaming "get away from him you bitch!" These moments made me smile and laugh out loud, but the film I wouldn't say is a laugh riot from start to finish, in fact it is really quite sweet.

Paul was written by Pegg and Frost, but for the first time no Edgar Wright in the picture, and they have called it a love letter to Steven Spielberg, King of the aliens come to Earth movies. It definitely shows, but this is not a bad thing as this is an Alien film with heart, something Spielberg is quite adept at, who has not welled up at E.T finally going home? If you haven't clearly you have no heart. I say this film has heart, but Paul is actually one of the filthiest (in terms of language) films I have seen in quite a while, and also unafraid to poke fun at religion, it is incredibly forthright in saying there is no God, evolution exists, you're all dumbasses who believe in Creationism. I liked this very much.

So Clive and Graeme (Frost and Pegg) are two geeks who are also writer/illustrators, much like a Kevin Smith movie, following Comic-Con around the USA but end up picking up Paul and taking him to where his people will collect him over 60 years after he crash landed on a young Blythe Danners dog, also called Paul. Because Paul is so very human in his behaviour, he speaks English, makes coffee, swears profusely, and smokes it is very easy to accept him as another character in this film. Kristen Wiig's character Ruth is actually more strange because she is a creationist Christian, I can understand and accept geeks and people who believe in life in outer space more than I can creationists. Of course her beliefs are soon put right (in my opinion) by Paul, who gives her his memories of time and space and other worlds through a touch of his hand. Other talents Paul possesses are the ability to bring birds back to life (and later bigger things, but I won't spoil it) and to heal disabilities (again I won't spoil it, but its very cool and really sweet).

Clive and Graeme are your stereotypical geeks, nervous, need a good wash, kind hearted, and a bit rubbish with the opposite sex. They take on Paul with mostly good grace, helping him where many would have shopped him to the authorities, and protecting him from the three FBI Agents after him in the forms of Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Bill Hader (Superbad), and Jo Lo Truglio (Role Models). These FBI agents provide many of the laughs, Bateman is the hardass who knows what is going on, Hader and Truglio his inept 'helpers' he has had to call in who spend most of their time in comic book stores and playing hide and seek.

Finally of course we have Paul himself, voiced by Seth Rogen. Seth was the ideal choice to voice this bad mouthed stoner alien, he has a gruff quality to his vocal chords that stop him sounding like an idiot, but he also has a relaxed way of speaking so that nothing is too much of a problem, just go with the flow and everything will be okay. I love Seth, I think he is a great comedic actor and could listen to his voice all day, sounds odd I know with it not being a smooth charming George Clooney type of voice, but thats what stops me falling asleep.

The cast and characters of this film are well played and well scripted, Pegg and Frost have done a fine job of not forgetting about themselves whilst writing, but also have given enough importance to the side characters for you to be interested in the whole cast and not just the nerds and the alien. The director, Greg Mottola, was a great choice as he brings the characters together in a cohesive blend of laughter and emotion, much as he did in Superbad.

Paul is a great film, I wish truly that I was more intune with the world of sci-fi before I watched it, but that did not stop me liking the story or the characters. Paul is the definitive alien, he also creates his own family in his short time trying to escape Earth, bringing Clive and Graeme closer to their dreams than they ever though possible. This is probably why many more hard core sci-fi people did not appreciate Paul, who needs heart when you have a laser gun? Well, I do. I enjoy a good bit of emotion, and I definitely enjoyed watching Paul.