Last Stop for Paul

The idea of this film has some genuine life, but the acting simply slaughters it. At first glance, I thought Last Stop for Paul was a travel documentary, but I quickly discovered that it wasn't. The dialogue was predictable, stale and fabricated. The two main characters are not professional actors, making for some almost laughable tête-à-tête. Each conversation lacked any sort of verisimilitude.

If you can get past the dreadful acting, there are aspects of this film that can be thoroughly enjoyed. For a geography buff like myself, I took pleasure in the scenery, especially when the pair stops in Greece and Vietnam. The producers took time to actually exhibit the landscape too, helping stimulate the viewer where the plot and dialogue don't.

Overall, this film fails miserably in the acting department, but the cinematography is great. Again, the intent of Last Stop for Paul isn't that bad, but it simply didn't take off like it should have.

If you've ever tried to shoot a film without a script with untrained actors, let alone ones that don't even speak your language, you'd respect this little movie. Apparently, that's what the director here did. It gives the film that improvisatory feel that I like because it's loose and seems more like real life, but there's still a structured story that you can follow so it's not just some mess. The story moves really fast, you get to meet a lot of funny characters, and you get to see beautiful footage of a lot of different countries. I checked this movie out because I like Borat and Anchorman and improvised style comedy, My friend who is an up and coming filmmaker told me about this flick that he saw at some festival in Florida. It's not exactly like Borat as the main character seems like a real guy as opposed to some freak, but the humor is still pretty awesome! Just crazy characters and crazy stuff that happens when you're a stranger in a strange land. It looks like the guys who made it had a lot of fun doing it and their passion for traveling comes through perfectly. I would definitely give this a chance!

Granted this was not an academy award-earning movie, but I thought it was great. If you love to travel and crave an experience that's truly unique, you'll love this movie. The funny part is my sister and I used the travel writer bit to get free hotel rooms. In our case, we DID write about our experiences at the hotel. This is one of those movies that will convince us to take a break from our hum-drum lives and enjoy a life-changing experience. It opens your eyes and hearts to cultures out of your comfort zone and gives you a glimpse about people from all works of life. I loved this movie and as I was watching it, I wanted to buy a round the world ticket. Great job!

I saw this title at the video store and was impressed with the number of awards the film had won at small film festivals. I find this film (if I can even call it that) embodies everything to dislike about American travelers. It follows two suits from L.A who go on a two week trip across the world to scatter the ashes of one of their buddies (Paul), they get deals on places because they pretend to be travel writers with Froomers. It seems to me that the way they pitched this idea for the film it is in similar fashion to resorts and airlines in order to get free stay. Anyways, sorry for being no negative. I was just amazed at how much good press this movie received. The acting is horrible, specially Cliff, the scene with the two Jamacian hookers... I don't know what to say. The two main characters are unlikable and even though the one guy claims to be a world traveler he seems that he would be lost at a Walmart. The only decent actor is the dude they meet in the Vietnamese jail. The reason my girlfriend and I kept watching is the one saving grace of the film, the locations, even with the crew's amateur cinematography they manage to capture some of the sceneries' beauty. But the film's finale at the full moon party is just a bunch of American tourists vomiting over the place (read Alex Garland's the Beach). In conclusion do yourself a favor and skip last stop for Paul. It's funny but for the wrong reasons.

I was talked into seeing a midnight screening of this film, and was caught completely off guard. This film followed the usual, boring, trying-to-be provocative short film you can expect at any festival, so naturally I assumed the worst for the upcoming feature.

I was totally wrong. Sure, "Last Stop for Paul" was shot on some pro-sumer grade cameras, had no real actors, and was all hand-held...but it was one of the most charming films I've seen in a long time. I can honestly say that I was never bored--and I've never enjoyed movies starting after midnight (I like to be alert and in the "mode" for movie-watching).

It's not the greatest film I've ever seen, and it isn't really life changing, but I can tell you that it will be worth your time to give it a shot--you will be entertained. Check it out!