Movie preview: Fuzz, Inside Job

IT’S been showing on a screen near you since Monday in a series of supposed previews, but Paul is only officially released tomorrow, so it’s not me being late but those movie monkeys jumping the gun.

Paul, if you’ve missed the hype, is where Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz buddies Simon Pegg and Nick Frost try to crack America with the help of some of their Stateside comedy pals.

They play a pair of geeky guys travelling across the USA ticking off UFO sites in their little notebooks when they come across a smart-talking alien who is a lot more switched on than ET ever was.

What he has got in common with Spielberg’s extra-terrestrial buddy is a desire to get back to where he came from before the boffins can start probing away, and he turns to the dorky duo for assistance.

As his voice is supplied by Seth Rogen, so he’s more than able to hold his own when it comes to witty batter going back and forth.

It’s jolly enough but it lacks some of the home-grown humour and affectionate spoofing that were such a feature of the twosomes earlier films, and the comedy cameos seem a touch superfluous.

> Another film which sneaked out for some preview shows earlier this week Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son, in the process running the risk of going down in history as a movie so poor that it closed before it even officially opened.

The first two instalments of this witless Martin Lawrence vehicle were bad enough. When Eddie Murphy cross-dresses and puts on a fat suit, it’s not funny – so why should anyone think that there would be laughs galore when Lawrence tries the trick?

The gimmick this time around is that top FBI agent and undercover expert has to pose as Big Momma once again – but now he has his obnoxious son in tow.

> There’s a target market for tour movie Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, and I’m not it.

Even the promise of the anodyne musical mannikin in 3D wouldn’t get me parting with pennies, but if you’re an adoring fan you’ll doubtless be in the queue.

> If you’re not into prepubescent pop then seek out Inside Job – it stars Matt Damon but it’s not an action thriller, it’s a documentary. Yes, really.

I’d rather watch Matt than Michael Moore any day, and in this fascinating factual feature Damon helps director Charles Ferguson get his message across.

Just who was to blame for the big crash that crippled America a couple of years back and then ripped out to rock the rest of the world? And what’s more, did they see it coming and still let it happen?

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