Movie Review: PAUL

PAUL

2011
R

Paul is a 2011 sci-fi comedy directed by Greg Mottola. It follows two nerdy Brits - Clive (Nick Frost) and Graeme (Simon Pegg) - as they travel the United States in search of famous locations of alien encounter after spending time at Comic-Con in San Diego. As they're making their way across the American Southwest in their rented RV, they watch as a smaller car spins out of control in front of them in the middle of the highway in the middle of the night. When the two get out to investigate, they meet Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), an human-savvy extra-terrestrial who claims to be on the lam from some sort of government agency. The two men reluctantly agree to help Paul in reaching his final destination, which he only says lies somewhere north of their present location. The trio starts their quest for this place, encountering opposition from a special agent named Zoil (Jason Bateman) while befriending a lonely, intelligent design-ist named Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig). The group slowly makes their way towards their final destination where Paul hopes to leave Earth for good.

I've known about Paul for quite a while, mostly because of my slight obsession with the past endeavors of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They smashed onto the movie scene with 2004's Shaun of the Dead and upped the ante with 2007's Hot Fuzz. In both films, they turned a certain film type (zombie/romantic comedy and buddy cop flick, respectively) on their ears, and with Paul, they were trying to do the same with the sci-fi adventure. And while it's not quite at the level of their previous two films, Pegg and Frost definitely do enough with this one to make it an enjoyable venture.

The storyline really isn't much to applaud. We've basically got your standard road trip flick infused with some teenage-oriented raunchy comedy to fill our appetites. I'm sure that alone doesn't sound entirely appealing, but for this group of people, it finds a way to work. However, the real strength with the screenplay is the references to classic films past. Like Rango, Paul pays rather often homage to the great films that have come before it. Here's a short list of the films that I definitely found reference to: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, Lorenzo's Oil, The Karate Kid, and Back to the Future. Some of the references are larger than others - Star Wars and Close Encounters get their respectful due - but this proves to be a movie that will appeal to those geeks (like me!) who have seen films like the ones listed above.

The level of acting also isn't quite up to the standards that Pegg/Frost films have set in the past, but it's good enough for you to care about the characters on-screen. Pegg and Frost may deliver characters most like their actual personalities in this one, making this one really seem like a labor of love. Wiig is good for a few hilarious scenes as she gets over her obsession with intelligent design. And Rogen is actually very good as the titular character. I think he works best as a voice actor - we get that distinctive voice without actually having to see him act. In addition to the aforementioned actors, be on the lookout for the following actors: Jeffrey Tambor, Jane Lynch, David Koechner, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, Blythe Danner, and even a voiced cameo from Steven Spielberg.

All in all, Paul is a fine addition to the Pegg/Frost partnership despite not being quite up to snuff with its predecessors. It's still a fun watch, especially if you're a fan of these two clowns. And if you're a fan of the classic sci-fi films from years past, you should probably do yourself a favor and take in Paul while you can before he blasts off and leaves Earth for good.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: B
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: CEDAR RAPIDS

CEDAR RAPIDS

2011
R

Cedar Rapids is a 2011 comedy directed by Miguel Arteta. It follows Tim Lippe (Ed Helms), a naïve insurance salesman from a small town in Wisconsin, who is sent to Cedar Rapids for an annual insurance salesman convention in the hopes that he can help his firm win the coveted two-diamond award. We learn rather early on how repressed Tim actually is - for example, until his trip to Cedar Rapids, he had never once set foot on a plane. When he gets to the convention's hotel, he meets his two roommates: Ronald Wilkes (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) and Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly). Ronald is a business-oriented man with a string of goals, and Dean is a party-first, work-later type of guy. Together, they attempt to bring Tim out of his shell. On the first night, they take him to a bar where he meets Joan (Anne Heche). As the two get to know each other, an attraction starts to grow, ultimately leading to their spending the night together. Upon waking the next morning, Joan informs Tim that his insurance company's previous lead salesman (Thomas Lennon, in a cameo) had to pay handsomely to win the two-diamond award, causing Tim to question whether it was worth the effort to grab the honor through such dirty schemes. When he learns that his company is being sold to another owner, Tim sets out to expose the corruption within the insurance conglomerate hosting the convention.

I'm going to start with acting because I think that's where Cedar Rapids mostly succeeds. Helms is good enough for us to actually care about his character from time to time, but he's nowhere near the comic brilliance he brought to 2009's The Hangover. I have a feeling Helms may very well end up being like Paul Rudd - a comic actor who can be brilliant in supporting roles but only so-so as a lead. Our other big three - Whitlock, Reilly and Heche - all do very well. Whitlock has one or two scenes that are downright hilarious, but he's otherwise a little unnecessary. I'm normally not a fan of Reilly, so it took quite a bit for me to fall into his wily charms. By the end of the flick, however, I didn't completely hate him, so that's saying quite a bit. Heche is also very good and may provide the best performance in the film. We've also got a slew of good performances from our smaller roles. Be watching for the supporting roles from Alia Shawkat, Stephen Root, Kurtwood Smith, Mike O'Malley and Sigourney Weaver, and for the cameos from the aforementioned Lennon and Rob Corddry.

I did have some issue with the screenplay. I felt like it was a little bit stale, in that, I never really had an question as to its direction. It all seemed rather predictable, but that's really neither here nor there. The real problem is that the movie just isn't all that funny. The jokes just didn't really get me laughing. Sure, I chuckled here and there, but there wasn't a slew of top-rate comedy all throughout. When you're marketing a movie as a comedy, this proves to be a problem. If you want people to laugh during your movie, you should probably make it funny enough to actually make them laugh. To be fair, I did go see this alone, and there were only two other people in the theater. I usually don't watch comedies on my own because you don't laugh as much as you do when you're with a group of people. That could've been the problem, but the best comedies will make you laugh regardless. So good try, I suppose, but I just couldn't find much of the humor to be all that funny.

Cedar Rapids is by no means a bad film, but it's not really one that you should be jumping out of your seat to go see. It has its moments, and it's definitely full of heart, but on the whole, it's not going to stand the test of time. Whether that's good or bad, I do not know. I do think that you should see this with more than just yourself because it's not a movie you're going to laugh at on your own. I do have clear biases against John C. Reilly as well, so that probably aided in the fact that I didn't find it all that funny. However, if you're into his brand of humor, Cedar Rapids might be right up your alley.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: C
0.5 Thumbs Up