Now I don't mean to compare these two movies; they obviously abide by two seperate mediums: Skyline is more of a hardcore, sci-fi action flick while Paul is, of course, a comedy. I just couldn't help but think about it (along with every other alien film within the past thirty years) during this movie.
Review starts here:
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are arguably two of the funniest leading men in movies today. With Paul they picked up the pen and tried their hand at screenwriting, with some pretty promising results. Pegg and Frost play two comic-geeks who decide to follow up a visit to Comic-Con. with a cross-country roadtrip of America's most famous UFO hotspots, but everything changes when they have their own close encounter outside Area 51; pretty much ever sci-fi nerd's wet dream.
Yeah, it isn't the most original plot, but I don't think Pegg and Frost were trying to break any ground here; they were only trying to be funny and, for the most part, they succeeded. With 50% of the jokes referencing different parts of the human anatomy and another 40% referencing every alien movie within the last 40 years, a lot of the jokes get old and even fall flat, but you have to hand it to these guys for knowing what makes Americans laugh today; especially typecasting Seth Rogen as the gross, rude, yet likeable Paul.
Continuing on the topic of casting: a big reason why this movie is as enjoyable as it is has to do with the supporting cast. With familiar faces ranging from Jane Lynch of recent Glee fame, to Jason Bateman and Jeffery Tambor from Arrested Development, SNL's Bill Hader, and even Steven Spielberg as himself, everybody here has experience in comedy which adds to the appeal and overall silliness of the film.
Of course this movie does have its pitfalls. As I mentioned earlier, most of the film's humor thrives off of a few too many crude, genetalia references and often sucumbs to other gross, Rogenesce innuendos about weed and Ewok sex. I must admit that I enjoyed most of the allusions to other famous, sci-fi films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T, and even Indiana Jones; however, I was disgusted with the shameless plugs to other great classics like The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future.
I am not ashamed, however, to admit that I did enjoy this movie and so did many of my fellow viewers who were just looking for a good laugh. The parts that are funny are almost laugh out loud hilarious which made for a enjoyable experience, at least for the first time around.
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