Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are comic-book geeks who have flown from their home in England to San Diego for Comic-Con, the ultimate nerdfest. In addition to best friends since childhood, they're also collaborators -- Graeme's the artist and Clive's the writer -- on a graphic novel called "Jelva: Alien Queen of the Varvak". What better way for two geeks to enjoy their first visit to the United States than renting an RV and going on a cross-country UFO road trip?

Just outside of Area 51, Graeme and Clive have a close encounter with a mysterious car that races ahead of them, then flips and rolls. They stop and are shocked to find Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), a smart-ass alien who has been held captive by the US Gov't for almost sixty years. Reluctantly, they give Paul a ride and are quickly taken by his good spirits, snarky comments and bonhomie. 

But there are bad men on their trail!  The mysterious Men In Black, lead by the hilariously deadpan Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman), with his incompetent twit associates Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio), and directed by the even more mysterious Big Guy (a delightfully geeky bit of surprise casting I won't ruin here), and they're dead set on capturing Paul and returning him for further research.

I really enjoyed Paul and found it full of great lines, sideways references to other films and insider jokes, funny situations and a story arc that kept the comic momentum going for the entire movie. I was already a fan of Pegg and Frost from their earlier work (notably Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) but I think this is their best work to date. Just don't be surprised by the never-ending stream of obscenities along the way on this Close Encounters-inspired lunatic road trip movie.

Any film that's built around the fabulous music of the mid-1960's starts out with one thing going for it: a great soundtrack. That Pirate Radio goes beyond that and offers up an entertaining and poignant story about the loss of innocence is what makes it a film well worth your time.

There was so much rock and roll coming out of Britain in the 1960's that it's generally referred to as the "British Invasion", and it included bands like The Beatles, The Animals, Manfred Mann, Petula Clark, Herman's Hermits, The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Who, The Kinks, and The Dave Clark Five. What you probably didn't know, though, was that the British Broadcasting Corporation (The "Beeb") refused to play this "seditious" music and that the only rock that could be heard on the Brit airwaves was from pirate radio stations set up on old freighter and tanker ships anchored off the coast of England, in international waters.

That's the basis for Pirate Radio, and the story, set in 1966, is simultaneously of the cast of characters that were the DJs and staff of the station and the British government officials who earnestly spent almost a year trying to find a loophole in the law that would let them shut down the broadcasts forever.

I really enjoyed Pirate Radio, both for the wonderful music and the witty storyline. I had no idea that this really had happened in England (and I was born there!) but sure enough, unlike the mock "based on real-life events" films like The Fourth Kind, you can justify seeing this funny movie by saying "mum, it's a history film. really."