To earn the coveted title of “geek” these days, it takes more than just spending hundreds of hours playing computer/console games or knowing how to fix all of your Luddite friends’ electronic devices.

For starters, you’d also have to watch everything from the Holy Trinity of geekdom – close friends Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright, best known for their collaboration on the critically-acclaimed cult hits Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz(2007).

With Wright busy directing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World when their latest movie Paul was filming, the trio was down 1 man, so Greg Mottola of Superbad and Adventureland fame was roped in to direct.

Paul (left) is voiced by comedian Seth Rogen, who starred in The Green Hornet alongside Jay Chou in 2010.

After their affectionate parodies of George A. Romero’s zombie films in Shaun and buddy cop movies in Hot Fuzz, Paul, written by Pegg and Frost, is a Galaxy Quest-esque tongue-in-cheek jibe at the science fiction fandom they’re part of themselves.

The pair star as British comic book nerds Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings on the geek road trip of a lifetime: first to the annual San Diego Comic-Con, followed up by a pilgrimage to all the principal extraterrestrial-related sites in the USA. That is, until a car crash leads to a too-close-for-comfort encounter with a bug-eyed, foul-mouthed alien (brilliantly voiced by Seth Rogen) who introduces himself as Paul.

And no, he isn’t here to conduct research on humans through rectal probing. At Graeme’s question, he snaps, “Why does everyone always assume that? What am I doing? Am I harvesting farts? How much can I learn from an ass?”

With his getaway car totalled and on the run not just from the FBI but also a secret agent under the command of a mysterious woman known only as “The Big Guy”, Paul hitches a ride in Graeme and Clive’s RV. What ensues is a crazy trip through the UFO heartland of America, with highlights including: kidnapping the upstanding half-blind creationist Christian girl Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), which Paul calls “worse than harbouring a fugitive”; drug-taking; and a running joke involving a woman with 3 breasts.

The journey isn’t without its bumps, as Clive initially resents Paul’s intrusion into the “special” trip he and Graeme have been dreaming of since they were kids, and the budding romance between Graeme and Ruth doesn’t help matters. But along the way, with a little corruption and a lot of perspective, Graeme and Clive mature both as friends and as individuals, and the friendship the 4 eventually forge is as tender as it is believable.

Nick Frost's portrayal of a comic-book nerd is delightfully entertaining.

The obvious chemistry between Pegg and Frost makes them as much a joy to watch as ever as they bandy lines such as, “Are you tired, Sausage?” to which Clive protests, “Don’t call me that in front of him!” As in their previous work, they are the perfect best friends, and seeing them together again after 4 years, bouncing off each other with such verve, is delightful.

As a recent convert to hedonism and the love interest of Graeme, Wiig, whose past appearances include Adventureland and Flight of the Conchords, is hilarious as she picks up swearing (with unquotable inappropriateness), drug use, and eventually comes to admit that Paul, rather than frightening her, had “freed” her.

The titular character himself is convincingly animated, and Rogen’s signature deadpan delivery makes his one-liners sting, while the character still retains enough warmth and humour for the movie’s emotional climax to really hit home.

The scene involving a space-ship is a clear parody of the Steven Spielberg classic, E.T.

Paul is more than the “love letter to Steven Spielberg” its creators describe it as; more than that, it is an ode to geeks everywhere that will warm the innermost cockles of their circuitry as the in-jokes and references to E.T. andStar Trek,among others, fly thick and fast over the heads of less discerning audience members. But with that said, there’s definitely more than enough here for the average moviegoer.

Just don’t expect to sit back and relax – this is one hell of a ride.

Rating: 4/5
Director: Greg Mottola
Writer: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen (voice only)
Release Date: 12 May 2011
Runtime: 104 mins
MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, Sexual Content, Violence, Drugs)