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Paul Blart: Mall Cop
(2009)
One of life's sad, lonely losers, stuck in a retailing job they don't want, in a life they despise, chasing after a girl that is way out of their league and hounded by inept criminals at every turn. No, this isn't Career Opportunities, but I wish it was. If that were the case, I'd be spending an hour and a half in the company of Jennifer Connelly, which is never a bad thing, let's be honest.
Still, even with no Jennifer Connelly, this is nowhere near as bad as I anticipated. One of the downsides of actually reviewing movies is to watch films that you don't really want to and this was one of those. On the upside, you occasionally come across something wonderful that you would normally have missed, but these are few and far between and unfortunately, this is not one of those rare incidents.
As I say, however, this wasn't quite the awful, shambling mess of a movie I was expecting. You can almost identify with Paul Blart, as most people know at least one of him. You may pity the poor creature and this may be the reason for sticking with it, in the hope that he will win the day, but it doesn't alter the fact that the movie itself is thin as wafers and has as much substance as Paris Hilton's philosophical musings on Nihilism.
Paul Blart, as the title suggests is a security guard working at the mall. He dreams of being a policeman and has the attitude to go with it. What let's him down is his ample physical attributes. When he unwittingly becomes the last guard in the building during a robbery, his true colours are there for all to see. Here is the opportunity for him to shine. The chance for him to live out the dream that he has only so far aspired to. What follows is an often comical telling of how a fat man with no respect from those around him achieves what even he himself believed was unachievable.
There are many pratfalls and moments of physical farce, but the film lacks anything approaching polish. We are asked to sit back and just gawp at the screen, grunting approvingly at appropriate moments as events unfold quite ludicrously before our eyes. Kevin James has given us a character that is likeable and tragic by turns, but ultimately predictable, and as such, not overly beguiling.
This is a movie that ultimately pokes fun at being large. Stop for a moment and imagine some lithe Adonis playing the lead role and the film no longer has any appeal. We applaud the efforts of what is essentially a good man doing the right thing with the best intentions, but largely failing in life because of his size. You have to question if that is actually funny or not.
-Steve Leadbetter
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All contents ©
2004-2009 Thoughtsonfilm.com |
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Director:
Steve Carr
Writer: Kevin James & Nick Bakay
Starring: Kevin James, Keir O'Donnell, Jayma Mays, Raini Rodriguez, Shirley Knight, Stephen Rannazzisi, Peter Gerety
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Runtime: 91
min
Rating: PG
Release Date: January 16, 2009
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