Paul (2011) movie poster

Paul (2011)

"Who's up for a close encounter?"
ThumbScore
👍 71%Google users liked it ⓘ
Critics Score
🎬 64%
AdventureComedyScience Fiction

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Where to Watch

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Director
Runtime
1h 44m
Rated
R
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Language
English
TMDB Rating
6.7/10 (6,176 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes
70%
Metacritic
57

Cast

Simon Pegg as Graeme Willy · 72% avg
Nick Frost as Clive Gollings · 70% avg
Seth Rogen as Paul (voice) · 70% avg
Jason Bateman as Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil · 70% avg
Kristen Wiig as Ruth Buggs · 70% avg
Bill Hader as Haggard · 72% avg
Blythe Danner as Tara Walton · 70% avg
Joe Lo Truglio as O'Reilly · 67% avg

Is Paul good?

Most people think so. 71% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics agree, scoring it 64%.

Where it ranks on ThumbScore

Rank in its genre
#973 / 1446 · Adventure
Rank in its year
#138 / 241 · 2011

By audience score, among films with 500 or more votes.

Overview

For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run. Wikipedia ↗

About the Film

Paul is a 2011 British-American science fiction comedy directed by Greg Mottola, starring and written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The pair play Graeme and Clive, two British comic book nerds on a road trip across America visiting UFO sites who encounter Paul, voiced by Seth Rogen, a wisecracking, foul-mouthed, beer-drinking alien who has been hidden at Area 51 for 60 years and needs their help to escape the government agents pursuing him, led by the menacing Agent Zoil played by Jason Bateman. Paul was Pegg and Frost's first collaboration without Edgar Wright directing, and while the film lacked Wright's visual inventiveness, their script was packed with affectionate references to science fiction cinema — from E.T. to Close Encounters to Aliens — that rewarded genre-literate audiences.

Seth Rogen's vocal performance gave Paul a slacker personality that made the alien feel less like a special effect and more like a third member of the comedy team. Paul earned $98 million worldwide on a $40 million budget.

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