Actors, writing partners and real-life buddies Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have a rare chemistry capable of making material seem better than it is. In Paul, the British buds star as sci-fi-loving dweebs who help deliver a friendly extraterrestrial (the voice of Seth Rogen) from imprisonment on Earth. In support is a team of perfectly cast comedy stalwarts, including the bizarrely endearing Kristen Wiig as a bible-thumping love interest, Jason Bateman – the funniest straight man in Hollywood – as a dour FBI agent, and Rogen, whose vocals-only turn allows him to drop punchline bombs without adding to his overexposure factor. Though it doesn’t match the Pegg-Frost classics Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, this wildly profane version of E.T. is packed with smart pop culture references and satisfying laughs.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.