Paul
Universal Pictures | Release Date: March 18, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
14
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 18, 2011
The film -- lame of title but big on fun. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMar 16, 2011
Graeme and Clive, representatives of a nation of nonbelievers in UFOs and big dinner portions, come to the psychic capital of a country that wants to believe, and they're transformed. In Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost do likewise, in celebration of what the Spielbergian cosmos is all about. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondMar 18, 2011
Paul is a close encounter with the comic brilliance of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost that makes going to the movies fun again. Read full review
80
NPRLinda HolmesMar 18, 2011
A good-hearted, funny movie. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaMar 16, 2011
A celebration of sci-fi flicks, fanboys and good, old-fashioned bromance, Paul is a thoroughly enjoyable road trip. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettMar 5, 2011
Affectionate, funny and action-packed sci-fi spoof. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Mar 5, 2011
Broader and more accessible than either "Shaun Of The Dead" or "Hot Fuzz," Paul is pure Pegg and Frost - clever, cheeky and very, very funny. You'll never look at E. T. in the same way again. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 19, 2011
The special effects budget is on the high side but those effects serve the story rather than the other way around, and Paul is all the better for it. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 19, 2011
The movie, despite what you may have gathered from the goofy trailer, is more sweet than silly. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 18, 2011
Rogen is a nonstop hoot, but it's the byplay between Frost and Pegg that roots the laughs in characters we care about. That's right: characters. No anal probes. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithMar 18, 2011
Bateman has rarely had the opportunity to play a snarling lawman, but with his cool aviators and his bristling putdowns he's perfect, too. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMar 18, 2011
Scabrously funny yet essentially gentle, as the main thing that it's probing is our collective ignorance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 17, 2011
This is a well-made, well-plotted and sensitive movie. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinMar 17, 2011
Paul is a little sloppy and a little sappy, but the filmmakers' passion for their subject matter carries it over the occasional rough spot. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 21, 2011
The third and least original of the Pegg-Frost features, but it's still a lot funnier than most films of its ilk. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMar 17, 2011
After the sharp bite and harsh light of most American-style guy-based funny films today, Paul comes as such sweet relief. Read full review
70
MovielineElvis MitchellMar 17, 2011
Fortunately, the movie is studded with performances that demonstrate the cast's skills, such as Kristen Wiig's soggy white-bread delusional Christian Ruth. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 17, 2011
Here's a movie that teeters on the edge of being really pretty good and loses its way. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 17, 2011
Some of the later scenes capture the spirit of majestic sweetness of "Close Encouners of the Third Kind" and "E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial" period, but the elevated moments don't last. They're relentlessly undermined by the f-bombs, groin kicks, and anal-probing jokes. Read full review
63
USA TodayScott BowlesMar 17, 2011
Where Paul takes off is in its embrace and knowledge of sci-fi icons. Read full review
63
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreMar 16, 2011
There's only so much humor you can wring from the f-bomb, even if you are a cute animated alien. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMar 18, 2011
A decent comedy, good-natured if unspecial, amusing if rarely hilarious. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMar 17, 2011
The crudeness with which Mottola made "Superbad" suited that film; here, a similarly rudimentary technique detracts and distracts. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMar 24, 2011
Paul is offensive solely for being so underachieving. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 17, 2011
While Paul seems great conceptually, he's not particularly interesting or surprising. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissMar 17, 2011
Not bad, but certainly not good; classify the movie as lazy fun. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 17, 2011
The derriere-flashing, dope-smoking, potty-mouthed antics of this antisocial E.T. justify every bit of the rating that the MPAA has slapped on him. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyMar 17, 2011
A big fat geek kiss to the movies of Steven Spielberg and his fanboys, Paul is a mild, meandering comedy. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesMar 17, 2011
The script is a veritable cosmos of Spielberg in-jokes, but the writer-stars also make room for some vicious and decidedly English digs at red-state shit-kickers and Christian fundamentalists. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 17, 2011
The script avoids going full-bore as satire. Where it goes instead lacks a purpose, a reason for being, beyond the usual name-checking of "The X-Files" and the like. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRobert WilonskyMar 15, 2011
This is the smart-ass stoner's "E.T.," the movie the fanboy parent won't be able to hand down like some tattered, squeaky-clean memento to their action-figure-collecting kids. It's just not quite right without Wright, who could have helped Frost and Pegg stuff Mel Brooks back into their Han Solo Underoos. Read full review
50
VarietyLeslie FelperinMar 5, 2011
Part bromance, part sci-fi spoof and all a bit disappointing. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirMar 17, 2011
The hit-to-miss gag ratio is atrocious, and we spend most of the movie hanging out with these borderline-agreeable characters, waiting for something to happen. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichMar 15, 2011
The title character himself is also an unimpressive digital creation-Rogen might as well be performing his stoner-from-another-world shtick during a wee-hours movieoke session. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMar 14, 2011
Feels at once secondhand in its eagerness and unknowing in its scorn. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisMar 17, 2011
Never achieves the exhilarating feat of exemplifying the types of Hollywood movies it wants to unpack. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 17, 2011
British satire loses something when it's handled by Americans: You miss the perspective that a foreign culture brings, so instead of wit and humor, you end up trafficking in self-congratulatory clichés and sentiment. Read full review
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