Paul (2011)
Chosen by me because I like to go to the cinema a lot.
A breezy, silly, fun romp starting at San Diego Comic-Con and getting geekier from there.
It's a much lazier script than Pegg's collaborations with Edgar Wright, many characters are mere sketches (some homophobic hicks and God botherers in particular) indeed even the character of Paul gets annoyed by how one note Wiig is, mirroring my thoughts at the time (though i couldn't zap the writing into gear as he does for proving evolution).
It suffers a little also from a couple of Pegg's weaknesses as a writer, falling back on easy jokes about being gay or making punchlines just be some dialogue from other movies ('get away from her you bitch' a particularly egregious example). There's obviously some fun to be had from that as a nerd (I may have been the only person to laugh at the mention of Mac and Me at my screening), and as in Spaced and the Wright films it's also used to suggest how these characters relate to the world through pop culture.
One of it's slyest gags is that the Alien is much more like Pegg and Frost than most humans they meet and the bonding between them often sweetly funny.
It is populated by some terrific American comedy talent, Jeffrey Tambor and Jason Bateman, Jane lynch, Bill Hader, David Koechner - some who get more to do than others but raise some of the lesser material so it's always enjoyable.
Probably the most fun I've had at the cinema this year. But I am a big fat old nerd of course.
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