This animated/live action road-trip comedy features a hip, rad, potty-mouthed, stoner alien named Paul. Voiced by Seth Rogan ("Zack and Miri Make a Porno"), a specialist in the genre, the presumption is that this breed of outer space creature picks up on the lingo of the moment on planets it visits. ET look out--this exo-planetoid freak is a new generation!

But, I'm getting a little ahead of myself in recounting how he shows up in the companionship of two nerdly Brits in a rented RV.

Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg, "Hot Fuzz") and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost, "Pirate Radio") are two buds who share an obsessive interest in things sci-fi. The former is an illustrator with obvious talent but no job, while the latter wants to be a writer of sci-fi material. Their common hero being Adam Shadowchild (Jeffrey Tambor, "The Hangover"), they attend a Comic-Con convention in San Diego to meet him. From there, the itinerary is a road trip aimed at the U.S.'s prime intergalactic visitation areas such as Area 51 in Nevada and alien home-base on earth, Roswell, New Mexico. Heaven for the right cultists.

These two get a chance to go way beyond anyone's expectations when an actual alien all but falls in their lap as a result of too-close encounter with a vehicle driven by some kind of mini-dude with an outsized head, saucer sized eyes, and all the prevailing body shape details we might call traditional in the literature about non-Earth intelligent life in the universe. He's gray in color and very dude-like in all other aspects. Once he convinces our guys that he means them no harm, like invasive probes of their inners, they take him aboard with a little less enthusiasm, at first, than their sci-fi predilections might make one expect.

But, that's when the trouble begins for our adventurous home boys from Blighty who--though they don't yet know it--are now harboring a creature on the run from pursuers who want to return their little man the the top-secret military base where he's been under their control for 60 years. Leading the quest is methodically uptight Fed agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman, "Up in the Air"). Following his lead as best two rookies can are Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio). We get it right away that screwups will be a major part of the action.

For our RV trio, it turns out that making friends is what they do. Pulling into an RV park for some overnight rest and relaxation, they open their door upon sweet Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig, "Macgruber"--at her most sensually interesting) who takes the earthlings' passports, not yet realizing that a third occupant is aboard because he happens to have gone invisible by way of one of his special talents.

Ruth, it turns out, is completely the victim of a dominating redneck pa names Moses (John Carroll Lynch) who brooks no imperfection on the part of his little girl, or the appearance of failure. He's a stern taskmaster who has instilled all the principles of creationist, anti-Darwin religion on his offspring. But, when Ruth gets her first look at the impossibility of an alien from a world that can't exist, she... well she faints. So much for religious dogma with this little cookie.

Her recovery comes with the discovery that she has complete freedom to follow her urges, which quickly transforms into the feelups and kisses with Graeme, and the one element in the film that gives it the pickup of an actual "Romantic" Comedy. All is good, for once, in a Simon Pegg comedy.

Even though not every try for a laugh comes off as hoped-for (no one hits 100%--ever!), this sci-fi goof is a road less travelled as it gains enough traction to bring much amusement to the ride. The sheer fascination with what director Greg Mottola ("Adventureland") and writers Frost and Pegg have wrought by way of paying off their kookie little character and daring concept drives it with the fuel of character-based hilarity. Comedies this well put together are the exception, not the rule, and when one comes along with a troupe that pulls as many comedic chains as they do I, for one, stand and applaud it--once my mirth subsides.

                                      ~~  Jules Brenner