Paul (R) ★★★

If a major motion picture studio gave you $50 million to make the movie of your choice, what would it be like? If you're producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and writers Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, it'd be a loving lampoon of geek culture and an homage to the films of the Spielberg/Lucas revolution, but nostalgia is both an advantage and disadvantage in director Greg Mottola's Paul.

Pegg and Frost star as a pair of nerds from across the pond who fulfill lifelong dreams when they fly to San Diego for the annual Mecca of nerdom, Comic-Con. The doofy duo extend their trip to tour America's extraterrestrial hot spots, including Area 51, where they pick up an unexpected alien hitchhiker on the run from the proverbial men in black. Across the country they go, getting into trouble, picking up more passengers and building bromantic bonds as the little green man Paul inches closer to his escape from planet Earth and the shadowy government official who has been exploiting his knowledge of the universe since he crash landed in Wyoming over 60 years ago.

Fan-favorite filmmakers since 2004's Shaun of the Dead, Pegg and Frost have been making geek chic for years now and continue to create identifiable roles for themselves while finding humorous ways to write their like-minded friends into their movies. Their collection of wacky characters is charming if incredibly derivative, but for better or worse they are the heart and soul of the film. Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Jo Lo Truglio turn in fun performances, but I expected a bit more from the Jane Lynch, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver cameos. Still, Seth Rogen's vocal performance as Paul adds significant layers to an already adorable alien and enlivens the adequately rendered CG character.

The comedy is surprisingly sweet and doesn't bite like Mottola's Superbad, though there are enough religious jabs and signs of anti-establishment fervor to call it mildly subversive. Lack of laughs isn't the issue here; lack of originality is. Mottola is too dependent on pop-culture references and inside jokes pertaining to E.T., Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so much so that the film ultimately becomes a parody of itself as its storyline mirrors that of Steven Spielberg's massive 1982 blockbuster (in this world, the movie mogul actually consults the incarcerated alien for inspiration for his beloved family film). While these nods are all amusing, they're not enough to carry the film and Mottola/Frost/Pegg offer little else. At its worst, Paul will give you a reason to revisit those classic sci-fi staples and remember the good old days. At best, it provides a few mindless chuckles and gives you good reason to give the geek next to you a great big hug.

Hollywood.com rated this film 3 stars.