Paul Blart: Mall Cop

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" from 2009 stars Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Shirley Knight, Bobby Cannavale, and Keir O'Donnell.

Paul Blart works for mall security after not making it to the police academy. He acts as if he's guarding the White House, stopping people in motorized carts for infractions, reporting in even though his boss asks who it is, and going a little overboard in his handling of a new trainee.

He hasn't dated since his green card marriage blew up, but he sees a young woman at one of the kiosks, Amy (Jayma Mays) and falls head over heels. After he makes a complete fool of himself at a bar, she seems less friendly.

When a gang announces the mall is closing early and starts an organized takeover and captures hostages, including Amy, Paul is fooling around with a guitar and singing in one of the stores. Therefore when the mall is locked, he's stuck in the mall. And it falls to him to do something about the robbery and the danger to the hostages.

Normally the last thing I watch is films like this. These past two weeks I've seen two. It's since the election. I have needed films to numb my mind. Kevin James makes me laugh with his slapstick and cluelessness, so it was fine.

It's predictable, it's funny in spots, it seems to go on longer than necessary, but by far it is not the worst thing I've ever seen. And for a change with today's comedy, it didn't have vulgar jokes.

This last week I watched Netflix's True Memoirs of an International Assassin, also with Kevin James, to give you an idea of what all the divisiveness and hate of this election has done to me.

This film is kinda silly, kinda dumb, and kinda fun. It is the type of film I would take my 12 year old daughter to see. It seems to be made for preteens and teens. The film was slow to start so have some patience at the beginning. It was a cute movie. Very fun, kid friendly and gives you warm fuzzy feelings at the end. The hero is very likable and you always cheering him to come out on top. I wouldn't say it's a hilarious movie or keep you on the edge of your seat, it had its moments. I would consider the movie a good waste of time. It's nice to have a film out there that is light and avoid bathroom jokes and video-game type violence. I enjoyed it and my daughter liked it even more. It is recommended for young people but not fully recommended for adults.

To those who gave this a three stars or less, what did you expect??? The movie is stupid alright but it is funny. Like a stupid but funny Die Hard. Many funny little stupid things. The air vent scene was funny. The squeaking shoes in the bank were funny. My only real complaint was the guy who they cast in the Hans Gruber role. He wasn't right. Maybe not a bad actor, just grossly miscast. Nimble Kevin was fine and so were most of everyone else. Above average musical score, which was a pleasant surprise.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was more than anxious to see it. Then I saw another one and it made me see it even more. Then I saw the movie and guess what, all the good scenes were those that I've already seen and nothing more. The idea itself is a very interesting one at very least, but it's the realization is where the movie fails. The story begins to borderline on being boring halfway through, and it all begins to be more than predictable. Once or twice the story takes an engaging turn, but it's really not enough. The funny parts are to be counted on the fingers of one hand, and the ending is -again- so predictable, it hurts. Which is a shame, because the acting is really good, Kevin James is truly shining through and proving that he's a really good actor; again, not nearly enough to salvage the shortcomings of the plot and the lack of jokes. Which is a shame. Movie starts really promising, but the further we go into the movie, the more painful it becomes to watch it. As if the makers gave up on it after shooting the first 30 minutes. I'm giving it 5 stars only because the first half an hour is really decent. And I gotta admire James doing all his stunts. So do yourself a favor. Don't watch the movie. Watch the trailers. That's all you need to see.

Is it stupid? Yes. Is it unrealistic? Yes. What I wildly entertained? YES! While I can see the flaws in logic and absurdity in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, I also feel that the film has a lot of heart. I enjoyed the time that I spent watching Blart ride is Segway around the mall, fail at his social interactions and ultimately come out the hero in the end. It is not my favorite comedy of all time, but I think that it is pretty dang funny.