What also makes this not only one of the smarter comedies so far this year, but one of the best is the combination of Rogen and "Superbad" director Greg Mottola's loud and vulgar sense of humor combined with the more subtle and observational humor of Pegg and Frost. Combined with a great comedic cast including Jason Bateman as the secret agent with a secret past sent to capture paul. Bill Hader doing wonderful as the leader of Bateman's second hand men who are in the dark about what exactly they're trying to capture. As his partner Joe Lo Truglio gets some of the bigger laughs as he continues to get bigger parts, but I must admit the guy makes one too many space man balls jokes as well as the film overall taking a bit too many hits on the question of if Graeme and Clive are gay joke and of course the whole anal probing thing. One joke is plenty fellas.
Besides other great cameos from David Koechner, Jane Lynch, and Jeffrey Tambor there is Blythe Danner, stealing her scenes, as the young girl all grown up who's yard Paul crash landed in and Sigourney Weaver as "The Big Guy" leading the mission of capturing Paul in order to probe his own brain. Weaver in this part is a joke in itself, seeing as she is kind of the matriarch of films like "Aliens", "Avatar", and "Ghostbusters". But the real gem in casting here was the idea to have Kristen Wiig as a scared and sheltered daughter of a strong Christian man who comes to feel freed by Paul and his two geeky co-horts. As Ruth Buggs, Wiig creates what is her best big screen creation to date. Whereas her SNL regulars may get a little redundant, here she is hilariously innocent as a woman new to cussing and eager to try out a combination of curse words, no matter the context. It is hilarious and the only repetitive joke throughout the film that never gets old. If it is any indication of Wiig's big screen career, we have a lot of good things to look forward to.
And though "Paul" may not ever reach the expectations I held for it, it offers enough little moments to keep you laughing and repeating a few lines with your friends as you leave the theater. It may not appeal to everyone as well as a big Hollywood production should, but if you have seen E.T. or anything having to do with Star Wars you might get a few of the jokes. And no matter how appealing the title character might be here, and trust me, Paul is a hilarious character, the thing I couldn't shake about "Paul" is that it never gets past its own limitations.
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