Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

Kevin James really knows how to take a fall. I cannot emphasize enough just how many times he falls down.

Seriously. The drinking game that will be created for this movie will contain only one rule: take a drink every time Kevin James hits the floor.

And you know what? It's funny.

The subtlety and long pauses and intellectual humor that's all the rage right now in shows like The Office and 30 Rock are great, but if you've ever cracked up watching American's Funniest Home Videos -- that is to say, if you're human -- you know what I'm talking about. Crotch shots and pratfalls will always be funny, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop ties them all together in an above-average family comedy.

"Family" is the key word here. Blart is rated PG and totally acceptable for all ages. No blood. No climactic shouting of the F word. And yet the elements of action, romance, and humor make it a good fit for just about anybody. No wonder it's raking in a ton of money.

Paul Blart, if you didn't figure it out, is a mall cop. He carries no gun and has no real power, but he's really good at riding a Segway. When he's nervous, he's prone to spouting off random interesting tidbits that aren't, when you think about it, actually interesting. He's an overeater and a single father to a charming young girl.

In other words, he's adorably pathetic.

The movie actually takes a long time to setup before the actual "plot" kicks in, as we see Blart at his job, training the new guy (Keir O'Donnell) and crushing on the cute girl who runs the wig stand (Jayma Mays). But then, Black Friday rolls around, and just when the mall is about to close up shop, a bunch of thieves hijack it and take hostages.

Blart doesn't notice at first because he's busy playing Rock Band in the arcade. But once he does, he realizes it's his sworn duty to protect the mall. ("But we don't have an oath," the head of security tells him. "I know, I made one up myself," he says.)

From hear on out it becomes a gentle parody of Die Hard-type hostage movies, complete with Blart crawling through a vent (or at least attempting to), and the power struggle between the cops and the SWAT team -- led, in a hilarious supporting role, by Bobby Cannavale -- stationed outside.

There are more than a few glaring plot holes. The criminal mastermind's henchmen are all absurdly athletic but for some reason fail to catch Blart in encounter after encounter. Sure, he gets pretty inventive sometimes, but there are other times when they're just chasing him and he manages to run away. And at one point, with no explanation, his daughter walks into the mall. How ...