Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony Pictures)
Kevin James Throws His Weight Around
When I saw Kevin James in the film Hitch I knew he was a talent to be reckoned with. He seemed to have an easy air about him and could portray sentiment without being fake or cloying. I had never watched his sitcom The King of Queens but I knew it was a popular show and figured the success was due to his involvement. Now James has come out with a movie that is all about his talent and it is a box office smash. Paul Blart: Mall Cop is destined to pull in the fans for more than one viewing.
Paul Blart (James) wants to be a state trooper but he has hyperglycemia (a sugar deficit) that causes him to pass out at inopportune times. He takes the next best job and that is mall cop for a huge mall in New Jersey. He considers his job to be important and takes his duties very seriously.
At home his mother (Shirley Knight) and daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez) urge him to go on the internet and sign up for a dating service. Reluctantly he does. Down deep however he is attracted to a girl who works in the mall. She has a kiosk where she sells wigs and hair extensions. Her name is Amy (Jayma Mays) and she is friendly but not overly so.
One night the mall is taken over by robbers and it is up to Paul to save the day. Can he rise to the occasion Well Kevin James did co-write the script and he is the star, so what do you think
James is the most enjoyable factor of the success of Paul Blart but he is also its deficit. He goes to extremes to make Blart a good-hearted everyday guy and then takes him to the extremes in certain situations. At any given moment Blart can be a real smart guy while at others he is dumb and dumber. Some occurrences are deadly serious while others are totally over the top.
In one scene he is trying to pull a three hundred pound friend into an air shaft. Come on we all know that is not going to happen. And then there are the crooks. Are they friendly bad guys or unfriendly good guys There is something off kilter as they never just take out their guns and shoot Blart.
The film is rated PG for mild profanity and violence.
Kids are going to love the chubby cop who saves the day, and adults are going to laugh at the physical humor James puts on display. But all are going to groan at some of the unrealities shown in this Die Hard: The Comic Version.
Bobby Cannavale, Mays, Keir ODonnell and all the rest of the actors involved support James and present him in the best light. James is the star and the reason the movie succeeds or fails.
I scored Paul Blart: Mall Cop a shopped 6 out of 10.
