<strong>Paul </strong><br/><strong>Director: Greg Mottola </strong><br/><strong>Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman </strong><br/><strong>**</strong> Fans of Pegg's previous affectionate genre-spoofs <em>Shaun of the Dead</em> and Hot Fuzz may find this amiable alien road- movie comedy lacking in zing. Pegg and his regular screen partner Frost play bumbling British tourists who stumble across a runaway extra- terrestrial while touring UFO country in America's southwestern states. Voiced by Seth Rogen, this digitally generated space invader is fleeing sinister government agents and trying to get home. He is clearly intended to be cute and charismatic, but mostly irritates. As with all of Pegg's self-scripted work, the dialogue of Paul is packed with audience-nudging film-nerd references. Some are blatant, notably <em>ET</em>, <em>Close Encounters</em> and the <em>Alien</em> series. Others, such as <em>Easy Rider</em>, more subtle. The starry surprise cameos are also funny, if a little obvious. Even Steven Spielberg makes a brief, sporting vocal appearance. All the same, Pegg is clearly a little lost without the visual swagger and fast-moving wit of his regular director and co-writer, Edgar Wright. Mottola seems to favour a more hands-off approach, allowing the script's more clichéd minor characters and sloppy slapstick jokes to pass unchallenged. <em>Paul</em> is sporadically amusing, but simply not fresh or inventive enough to match superior sci-fi comedy spoofs such as <em>Men In Black</em> or <em>Galaxy Quest</em>. <em>Follow us on Twitter and keep up to date with the latest in arts and lifestyle news at <a href="http://twitter.com/LifeNationalUAE" target="_blank" title="Twitter: Opens in a new window">twitter.com/LifeNationalUAE</a></em>