Paul: Difference between revisions

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'''Graeme''': Did you want [[Spot of Tea|Tea]]? }}

 

 

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** [[Aliens|"Get away from her, you bitch!"]]

** A really old one for the fans, Graeme is a [[Spaced|very good artist.]]

** In the Unrated version there's a fake one at [[Comic Con]].

* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and mocked when Graeme asks Paul if he has [[Translator Microbes|some sort of magic translation thing]] going on.

** Also, [[Justified Trope|justified]], in that Paul has been living here for 60 years or so, more than enough time to learn to speak English fluently.

* [[Amazing Freaking Grace]]: Ruth when she first finds out about Paul.

* [[Amusing Alien]]: Paul.

* [[Anal Probing]]: Clive, suspicious of Paul after he and Graeme first find him and take Paul along in their RV, asks Graeme, "What if we wake up and find him inserting a probe into our anus?"

** Turns out those two rednecks are deathly afraid of homosexuality, and in their opinion, anal probing counts as such.

* [[Audible Sharpness]]: The sword that Clive tries out at Comic Con.

* [[Author Appeal]]: Nick Frost and the American South. Much of the film's Southern elements came from his interest in the area.

* [[Badass Grandma]]: Sigourney Weaver as The Big Guy, who effortlessly and simultaneously manhandles Grame and Clive by herself ''unarmed'' without breaking a sweat.

* [[Big Bad]]: The Big Guy

* [[Book Ends]]: The movie begins and ends at the San Diego ComicCon, first as attendees, {{spoiler|then as invited guests}}.

* [[Brick Joke]]: When Paul first meets Clive and Graeme, Clive faints and Graeme assumes Paul made it happen somehow, but Paul assures him he didn't. Later, when Ruth meets Paul the first time and faints:

'''Paul''': "She fainted! We've been over this!" }}

** "You'll know it when you see it." It immediately cuts to a ratty looking trailer park, with Paul saying that looks like a good place to stop, making you think this is the answer to the question. It turns out later he meant {{spoiler|Devil's Tower}}.

** All of Paul's special powers come in useful, even the "transfers grievous wounds" thing.

** Also, to a lesser extent, Graeme and Clive being able to speak Klingon. Near the end, Clive uses it to tell Graeme {{spoiler|to punch the unsuspecting Big Guy}}.

* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: Paul, usually, ranging from reviving (then eating) a dead bird to scaring the Christ out of rednecks.

* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: The gang runs into a pair of scary hillbillies in Rachel, NV, and then runs into the exact same scary hillbillies a couple of days later hundreds of miles away at a bar in Wyoming. Then Ruth meets her father at the same bar.

** Actually, if you pay close attention, you see the pickup truck pass by our heroes.

* [[The Conspiracy]]: {{spoiler|Subverted that, in the end, the real conspiracy is Zoil is actually trying to ''help'' Paul escape from the Big Guy all along.}}

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: {{spoiler|"Ain't this a b- *gets crushed by landing alien ship*}}

** An otherwise throwaway line from Jane Lynch:

'''Pat''': [[Double Entendre|I hear that!]]" }}

** When Graeme first meets Ruth, he tells her, "You might want to push the tissues off the bed with a pen. I have a slight cold." He doesn't look or sound sick at all, so he's probably using the tissues for something else.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Paul, almost constantly.

* [[Determinator]]: Ruth's dad.

* [[Disney Death]]: {{spoiler|Graeme, and then Paul, a few moments later}}.

* [[Distant Prologue]]: A brief opener shows Paul's ship crashing on Earth in 1947, before we cut to the present day.

* [[Dreamworks Face]]: [http://www.impawards.com/2011/paul_ver2.html One of the posters]. Sure, Paul is supposed to be a smart [[Amusing Alien]], but ''come on''.

* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: "Small corrections! Small corrections!"

* [[Easy Evangelism]]: A few minutes with Graeme (and a handy mind meld) are enough to break Ruth out of her Bible-thumping fundamentalism.

** Somewhat subverted, as she is clearly shocked and frightened by the sudden collapse of her entire worldview, temporarily BSODing.

* [[Exotic Equipment]]: "Hey, on my planet, this is [[Gag Penis|small!]]"

* [[Exposition Beam]]: Paul can zap people with knowledge of the universe.

* [[The Foreign Subtitle]]: The Chinese title of the film translates to "We Hit an Alien!"

* [[The Fundamentalist]]: Ruth, [[Character Development|initially]]. She freaks out at Paul even ''after'' he explains that his existence "only disproves... one world theologies". Her dad is even worse.

* [[Furry Fandom]]: Clive mentions that the last time he had sex before meeting Paul was with a woman cosplaying as an Ewok.

'''Clive''': Well... she was furry nice. }}

* [[Gender Blender Name]]: The Big "Guy" is actually a woman.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Paul's gamble to heal Graeme, which had been toted as incredibly risky and likely to kill him. Subverted in that he ends up managing to live through it.}}

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Mentioned through the whole movie. Even the alien, Paul mentions it at one point.

* [[Hug and Comment]]: "Clive, I can feel your boner."

* [[I Resemble That Remark]]: Happens to Clive, right after choking Paul.

'''Clive''': ''I DO NOT HAVE A FUCKING SPAZZ ATTACK!'' *starts choking Paul, ''again''* }}

** It helps to know that calling someone a "spaz" in England is equivalent to calling someone a "retard" in North America.

* [[Impairment Shot]]: Ruth after she wakes up after fainting when she sees Paul.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: {{spoiler|Zoil}} manages to incapacitate the whole of The Big Guy's entourage with non-lethal hits.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: The clock that Graeme hits Agent Haggard with.

* [[Invisibility]]: Paul, but only if he holds his breath. Fails on him several times due to this.

* [[Invisible Streaker]]: Paul.

* [[Irony]]: Paul is a man from the stars with a Biblical name who heals the sick. He's hunted by crazed Bible thumpers.

* [[I Should Write a Book About This]]: {{spoiler|Clive and Graeme eventually write about their experience with Paul. On a lesser note, Graeme constantly sketches Paul throughout their trip.}}

* [[I Take Offense to That Last One]]: While being chased by {{spoiler|what they believe are the hicks, Gus and Jake}} Clive worries that their assailants will "...rape us and break our arms!" Graeme whimpers that he doesn't "want (his) arms broken!"

** Paul is repeatedly described as being a [[Nice Guy]] but ''"incredibly'' rude."

** So is {{spoiler|Agent Zoil}}.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Agent Haggard. He doesn't seem like much of a villain at first, especially being played by Bill Hader, and the audience would probably assume that both members of the wacky agent duo would either end up helping Paul in the end or would meet harmless comedic fates. This changes when we see Haggard (apparently) killing Ruth's father in cold blood.}}

* [[Known Only By Their Nickname]]: Paul. From what we hear of his language, it's probably just as well.

** "''That's'' Jenga."

* [[The Men in Black]]: Big Guy's men. Somewhat subverted in that two of them have no idea what's going on. Used as a plot point - when they figure it out, they think they're going to finally get promoted and start taking harsher methods that are more in line with villainous depictions of this trope.

* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: A [[Running Gag]] throughout the film, from the hotel employee providing room service to Paul himself. It's not entirely [[Ho Yay|unwarranted]].

* [[Mook Promotion]]: Haggard and O'Reilly (well, mostly Haggard) seek one by capturing Paul before Zoil can.

* [[Most Writers Are Writers]]: Clive is a sci-fi writer. Graeme is his illustrator.

* [[Mushroom Samba]]: Ruth takes a hit of some rather strong pot. "''There are wasps in my brain!''"

* [[Nerds Are Virgins]]: Averted in that we find out that Clive at least has had sex (albeit with a woman dressed as an Ewok).

* [[No Social Skills]]: Ruth, due to being raised by her [[The Fundamentalist|fundamentalist father]] all her life.

** Grahame and Clive, being nerds, aren't good at socializing with non-nerds. "Oh no! People!"

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: {{spoiler|O'Reilly is caught in the explosion when Tara's house blows up, but the credits epilogue shows him at Comic-Con, still alive. He's horribly burned and wearing a ''Phantom Of The Opera''-type mask.}}

* [[One of Us]]: Writers/stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are huge nerds, and this is their love letter to the "alien encounter" sub-genre of sci-fi.

* [[Overprotective Dad]]: Ruth's papa.

** Nick Frost for once not playing [[The Ditz]].

** Bill Hader as a semi-serious special agent who goes a bit [[Ax Crazy]], rather than a funny guy.

* [[Pocket Protector]]: {{spoiler|Papa Buggs is saved by his [[Bullet Proof Bible]].}}

"Tell him you failed." }}

* [[Reality Subtext]]: At the end, Pat tells Ruth that she would look even better with her clothes off. The actress who plays her, [[Glee|Jane Lynch]], is a lesbian.

* [[Religious Stereotype]]: Ruth and her dad. Ruth experiences [[Easy Evangelism]] via psychic powers, while her dad {{spoiler|decides that the main group isn't so bad after Paul revives Graeme.}}

** People fainting when they meet Paul for the first time.

** "You can't WIN with these people."

'''Graeme''': [cowboy voice] Ah sure do! [laughter] }}

* [[Serkis Folk]]: Paul. Most of the stand-in work was done by Joe Lo Truglio, who also plays Agent O'Reilly. Seth Rogen also did some motion capture work during pre-production.

** For starters: Clive is implied to have a dog called [[Independence Day|Boomer]]. Interestingly, while in ''[[Independence Day]]'' Boomer survives everything, the first scenes of ''Paul'' shows more cruelty towards pets.

** Who has guns in England? "[[Hot Fuzz|...farmers.]]"

** The finale contains many references to ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', including Devil's Tower, shots of people standing around and going into the spaceship, and the "Five Tones" summoning the ship. Earlier, the Five Tones play at the fireworks store.

** [[Star Wars|"Boring conversation anyway."]]

** The scene in the redneck bar has a live band performing the Cantina theme from Episode IV.

** [[Aliens|"Get away from her, you BITCH!"]], {{spoiler|said ''to'' [[Sigourney Weaver]]}}.

** [[The Blues Brothers|"I'm on a mission from God!"]]

** Paul [[The Karate Kid|puts his palms together and rubs]] before healing a bird.

** [[Back to The Future|"Where we're going, you won't need teeth."]]

** The Big Guy refers to Paul as "[[Mork and Mindy|Mork]]'' at one point. He doesn't like it.

** Paul jokingly addresses Clive and Graeme as "[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]" after the [[Bar Brawl]].

** "I've dreamed of this since I was twelve, when I first saw ''[[Mac and Me]]''."

*** Especially funny because not only is Invincible more geeky and non-mainstream comic than many with wider recognition, but he is also a [[Human Alien]].

** Graeme wears a [[The Flash|Flash]] t-shirt at the beginning of the movie and much of the rest an [[Empire Strikes Back]] t-shirt.

** At one point in the comic shop you can see a rack full of [[Scott Pilgrim]] books. Had Edgar Wright not directed ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'', he would have directed ''Paul''. In addition, [[Simon Pegg]] is said to be a fan of Brian Lee O'Malley.

** {{spoiler|When Paul "dies", he looks just like the alien in the infamous "alien autopsy" video.}}

** [[Titanic|Are you going to draw me like one of your French girls, Jack?]]

** Graeme says, "Oh my..." when {{spoiler|he's shot.}} These were Captain Kirk's final words.

* [[Significant Sketchbook]]: Being an illustrator, Graeme does several sketches along the way, including one of Paul [[Flipping the Bird]].

* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: Ruth becomes a very awkward and over-the-top example of this once she sheds her anal-retentive religious nature.

* [[Starring Special Effects]]

* [[Stern Chase]]: Lampshaded, too!