posted
My wonderful mother took the kids tonight, and my wife asked what I wanted to do. I wanted to see Paul.
Now yes, I'm a fan of Spaced!. I loved Shaun of the Dead; it's in my top three or four movies of all time. But I wasn't a big fan of Hot Fuzz. It was like when a band you really like comes out with a new (bad) album. Sure, you buy it . . . you listen to it . . . but you're a little disappointed. You tell yourself it was great, but you cringe a little. That's how I felt about Hot Fuzz. Like Shaun was their apex.
On to Paul. Wow. What are these critics smoking? Now I'll admit, Shaun was much funnier if you got the zombie in-jokes, Fuzz was funnier with the cop-movie references. Paul is funnier if you get the Star Wars / Close Encounters / Comic Con references. But overall, it may have been the best written / acted / made of the three. Critics are saying that it was "broader" and not nearly as good as the other two. What do I say? Shut the front door!!
Overall, I'd say that Paul was much stronger than Fuzz. MUCH stronger. Why? Because it makes you care. Shaun had a lot of emotional involvement -- you cared about Shaun, you cared about his zombie buddy. In Fuzz, they played caricatures. In Paul, they connect (again) on an emotional level. And it's FUNNIER!!!
Overall, however, much of the humor relies an understanding of geek culture. Would you recognize the Star Wars cantina song if played by a country western band? Would about being midget / ewok love affair humor? The only real turn-off that I could see, is if you were a super-devout literalist Christian. The movie kind of bags on the fundamentalist anti-evolution stereotype. But hey, that doesn't bother me none.
Bottom line -- great movie, if you aren't too offended by evolution or potty mouths. If you're not a nerd, it may be a rental.
Posts: 1204 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Now I will see it, because of your review (or at least seriously try, hard to get to the movies with two babies).
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I loved it. And I agree that it was the funniest of the three and just an all around better movie.
Posts: 1945 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I liked "Paul" pretty well, but didn't like Seth Rogen's performance and generally felt like the humor veered too far towards "American" in feel - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but doesn't play to the strengths Pegg and Frost displayed in their last two movies. "Paul" is slapstick and situation comedy rather than the character-driven black comedy of "Shaun of the Dead" or the dark farce of "Hot Fuzz," with the nerd refs fired directly at your face rather than being used to flesh out a more complete story. It's the difference between Xander doing the Snoopy dance ("funny pop culture reference") and Family Guy's endless flashbacks to random 80s television series ("not funny pop culture reference") - one uses the audience's recognition of the reference as part of a deeper joke, and the other relies entirely on that recognition of the reference as the joke.
(I suspect the deeper underlying problem for me is that "Paul" felt like a lot of clever ideas that were poorly executed, and I attribute this mostly to the change in director. Edgar Wright's presence was sorely missing here.)
That being said, I did enjoy the movie overall. And Jason Bateman is awesome.
Posts: 1321 | Registered: Sep 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I really liked the movie, and for once I am happy with the MPAA and the R rating on this movie. One of my co-workers asked me about it in referance to his thirteen year-old wanting to see it, after I ruined some the funnier bits for him he decided against seeing it with his kid in tow. I dont feel that they over stepped any boundaries but I do find it unfortunate that after Shaun and Hot Fuzz people were assuming that this movie would okay to take children to.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
