Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two alien/science-fiction fanatics from England who’re on vacation in America. They’ve decided to take a road trip across the desert visiting all of the biggest UFO hot spots along the way. On their journey they happen upon Paul (Seth Rogen), an alien who’s escaped from the US government and is trying to get home, and they decide to help him in his travels.

Reading the above synopsis and realising how easy it was for me to write it reminds me why I was questioning whether or not I should watch the movie. Everything about it looks and feels average. However, therein lies its beauty.

The film uses the simple enough premise, with two best friends on a road trip, to create the ability for us to have enough homages and light references to all of the science-fiction and alien culture to make all of the intended audience in stitches throughout the trip.

The films strength is its stars chemistry and brilliant writing. Pegg, a half of the film’s leading talent and writing team, also helped write fan favourites such as: Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and SPACED; so to see this as another brainchild of his isn’t too farfetched, it’s actually the complete opposite as it’s what anyone who was a fan of all his previous works wants to see him do. While films like Run Fatboy Run and even Star Trek and Mission:Impossible probably does for his acting career great things it’s films like Paul that keeps him in the forefront of this – and probably many other – film bloggers and geeks alike.

This film however, unlike all the previous ones that Pegg and Frost have acted together in is without the third of the British trio, Edgar Wright. While Wright’s style is brilliant, I’m happy that this particular project didn’t involve him since it allowed me to see how Pegg and Frost’s writing worked without the frenetic nature of Wright’s directorial style, and I’m happy to say that it worked. It made the movie less about the overall adventure and more about just kicking back and having fun with these characters.

However, even with the absence of Edgar Wright you can still feel his influence on his friends as you see things like the character of Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) who’s the government agent that’s chasing after Paul across the country before he escapes. The way that the character is introduced is done in such a stereotypical ‘man in black’ way. Initially it’s this man shrouded in mystery with the black shoes that we watch walking up to the scene and doing his investigation taking a closer look at elements of what was left behind while we take our time to see his face. It’s almost as if Wright directed that scene and then left to go do other things that day. I question how much of the direction was ironed out in the script or whether Greg Mottola just happened to find that same kind of style by accident, or purpose maybe, to appease his stars.

This is the movie that we’re all going to look at in 2012 as the gem of 2011 that was overlooked and needs to be seen by more people. It’ll be the cult hit of from 2011 that’s talked about for years to come.

IMDB says 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes says 72%
I say 7.5/10