On paper, combining the juvenile humor of Judd Apatow with the slacker charm of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s comedies sounds like it might be a bit too ambitious to pull off, but that’s exactly what the movie Paul attempted in 2011. And it threw in Spielbergian intrigue for good measure. Directed by Greg Mottola, Paul seemed destined for cult appreciation, which never quite materialized, as it opened to mostly positive reviews and modest commercial success. A time capsule of a very particular period in pop-culture, the movie is premiering on Peacock next month on September 1.
Also written by Pegg and Frost, Paul starred the legendary British pair as a couple of geeks on a road trip across America, all the way to San Diego for Comic-Con. Much to their shock, they stumble upon an actual alien along the way. But unlike the adorable E.T. from Steven Spielberg’s classic, Paul is a chaotic, foul-mouthed, blunt-smoking extraterrestrial who wants nothing more than to escape Earth and return to his people. And he happens to sound an awful lot like Seth Rogen. Jason Bateman shows up as a special agent tasked with tracking Paul down, while Kristen Wiig plays a woman that our merry band picks up along the way.
Paul also features several Apatow regulars, such as Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio, as well as cameos by Sigourney Weaver and Spielberg himself. The movie debuted in 2011 to mostly positive reviews, and currently holds a 70% fresh approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, although its audience score, based on over 250,000 ratings, is slightly lower, at 67%. Collider’s review at the time called the movie “a baffling love letter to an already well-loved culture.”
‘Paul’ Is Like the Unofficial Fourth Installment of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy
Produced on a reported budget of $40 million, Paul concluded its theatrical run with $37 million domestically and nearly $100 million worldwide. While it fell short of the acclaim and commercial success of Mottola’s previous film, the generational hit Superbad, it out-performed Pegg and Frost’s landmark British comedies with Edgar Wright — Shaun of the Dead ($38 million worldwide) and Hot Fuzz ($80 million). Pegg and Frost re-teamed with Wright just a couple of years later, on the third installment of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, titled The World’s End.
Also starring Blythe Danner, Jane Lynch, Dave Keochner, and Jesse Plemons in a cameo that foreshadows his recent appearance in Civil War, Paul will be available to stream on Peacock on September 1. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
