Paul Blart: Mall Cop
3 Lloyd’s – Cautionary Family-Friendly
PG for some violence, mild crude and suggestive humor and language.
Kevin James stars as the title character in this Columbia Pictures flick called Paul Blart: Mall Cop. This is a story about a single, suburban dad, trying to make ends meet as a security officer at a New Jersey mall. Even though no one else takes the job of mall security seriously, Paul Blart considers himself on the front lines of safety.
Then, when a heist shuts down the megaplex, New Jersey’s most formidable mall cop suddenly becomes a real cop to save the day.
Peanut Butter Fills The Cracks of the Heart
If you like Kevin James, you will find Mall Cop is pretty much classic Kevin James. Pulled from the pages of the King of Queens landscape, we discover James playing a similar character. However, this time around he’s not driving a delivery truck. In Mall Cop he’s driving a two wheel scooter, where he’s king of the mall. Blart knows all the ins and outs of the mall. He also knows all the hiding places. He even knows where to set the speed traps to catch the speeding seniors on their three wheel scooters. He seems to be king of the mall. On the surface he comes off confident, calm and cool. But, underneath, he’s a misunderstood man with a big heart. Sadly, he’s hung his heart on his sleeve one too many times. Now he’s lonely, going through the motions of life while he and his daughter live with his mom.
When I think of good physical comedy these days, two people rise to the top of the list – Amanda Bynes and Kevin James – Mall Cop provides a great outlet for James and his physical comedy. He’s great at falling down, laughing at himself, and making us laugh with him. This movie is filled with plenty of laugh moments. However, while it’s full of laughs, Mall Cop struggles some at script consistency. Not only did Kevin James co-produce Mall Cop, but he also co-wrote it. It’s here we discover a struggle for James making the shift from writing a half hour TV sitcom, and an hour and a half big screen movie. Mall Cop clocks in at a mere 1 hour 27 minutes. But, instead of having an hour and a half movie, it’s more like three “To Be Continued” TV sitcoms.
Even after pointing out the script consistency problem, that’s not to say Mall Cop is a terrible movie. While there are scenes included meant to clearly pad the movie and make it longer, it’s still funny. If there’s one thing to be said about Kevin James, he’s a great actor, a great comedian, and even with a sub-par script, he can still pull a movie out of the dumpster. It takes a great comedian to have us laughing with him, not at him. James is brilliant in this comedy arena. The other two main characters are great in the movie as well. Jayma Mays of Red Eye fame is fabulous in Mall Cop as Paul Blart’s love interest whom he has to save. Then there’s the up and coming Raini Rodriguez. This 14 year old puts in a great performance in her big screen debut. Hopefully we’ll see more of Rodriguez in the years ahead. I have a feeling she can play wonderful comedic roles, as well as dramatical roles.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a movie about overcoming doubts and rising to the challenge. In the face of ridicule, it’s important to know who you are. Paul Blart is the cream that rises to the top when everyone else flees the scene. Mall Cop is very funny, and it even has a few plot surprises tossed in for good measure too. That, along with the humor, makes this a fun flick. The plot padding is a little frustrating at times. It’s obvious the filmmakers were doing all they could to stretch this one out to an hour and a half.
We calling this movie Cautionary Family-Friendly. While there’s nothing that jumps right off the screen that says it’s inappropriate, there are some padding scenes that would have been better left out. Had scenes such as a drunken Paul Blart and a Victoria Secrets fight been left out, Mall Cop could have stayed in the family-friendly arena. But alas, the filler is usually where filmmakers get into trouble with scene content. Mall Cop is rated PG. Perhaps a PG-13 rating would have more appropriate.
As a result of padding issues, and a few cautionary scene issues, Mall Cop might best fit into the category of “Wait for the DVD release.”
Cautiously enjoy the show!
Dr. Rus
Dr. Rus has 30+ years experience in the field of communication. He takes this experience, and his passion to encourage others to positively effect their environment, when providing insight and movie reviews. 
