Jaci Dawn

I was introduced to Paul by a coworker with a warped sense of humor. She recommended Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, as well. I caved and convinced my husband we needed to see at least one of those movies, and since Paul was available on Netflix – it was the movie of the night. And it had us within the first five minutes of the movie, somewhere on US 95 traveling south to Las Vegas in my home state of Nevada, passing right by Area 51. Graeme and Clive (Simon Pegg & Nick Frost) are on their way to a ComicCon, where they hope to promote their book to a renowned sci-fi author. It’s the road trip of a life time for two blokes from Great Britain.

Then – they witness a horrific car accident, a roll over in the middle of the night, in the middle of the desert. Rushing to the aid of the driver of the wrecked vehicle, they encounter… Paul.

Cigarette-smoking and foul-mouthed Paul asks for help, commandeers the ComicCon trip, and sidelines every bit of “proper” the two Brits have thought to bring along with them. This is not only a spoof on ComicCons, but takes a nod to everything from the purported Alien from Taos, New Mexico to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Men in Black. No subject around alien abduction rumors is spared.

Paul offends everyone. Paul is endearing to everyone. Paul is short, green, and has a very large head with very large eyes. Paul does not fit in. And Paul just wants to go home, like ET (another nod to a Spielberg film). Oh – and Paul calls Stephen Spielberg during the movie to collaborate on the movie: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Come to think of it, you have to watch all of those movies to understand much of what is happening in the movie, Paul. I recommend you start with Close Encounters.