Movie Review: Mall Cop

Megs and I attended a party put on by my work last week, and despite my low expectations, we had a really good time. We had a great meal at Magelby's restaurant and then went across the street where my company rented out a theater and we all watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Now I can spot a cheesy, stupid, wannabe-funny movie from a mile away, so naturally, my expectations for the movie were exceedingly low. The only hope this movie had, I thought, was that the main character Kevin James was pretty funny in other shows such as Hitch, or I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry... That said, I wasn't expecting to be pleasantly surprised.

But, pleasantly surprised I was indeed! Let's breakdown the movie and see how it fared when critiqued by the great movie-critic duo of.... Emerson & Kody. :)

Premise-Plot 4/5: The film is about a lowly mall security guard who is feared by none and respected by even fewer. During his shift one day, the mall gets held up by a band of crooks, looking to rob the mall, and it's up to Paul Blart, said mall cop, to save the day.

The plot didn't seem to grasp me all that much (although I was taken back a couple of times with unforeseen twists), but the premise of a mall security guard seemed to be inately funny and have widespread possibilities.

Post script: Actually I'm going to change this to a 3 out of 5 instead. This has nothing to do with Kevin James, who was phenomenal as Paul Blart, but rather the bad guys, who stunk. The main bad guy won't win any awards for sure, but really, it was his evil cohorts that really bothered me. Instead of just normal bad dudes with guns and outfitted in black-ops gear, the mall was taken over by a bunch of X-Games criminals who spent half the movie skateboarding, bmx-ing and freestyle walking their way around the mall. They got real annoying, real fast.

Acting: 4/5 Kevin James was straight-up hilarious in this flick and he made me want to re-watch his movies that I've already seen. The supporting cast was ok, some more entertaining than others (the bad guy wasn't very good), but the actors that had to be good were, and that's what matters most.

Kid-friendly: 5/5 I don't remember a single swear word nor inappropriate remark or scene, so the kiddies should enjoy this one too. Although just to cover my bases, if you see it and there are bad words or anything of the like, I disavow all knowledge of said "despicability" (despicable thing) and hereby abslove myself from any responsibility thereof. ... but really, you should be good. :)

Funniness: 4/5 I really, really wanted to give this one a 5, but because a lot of the humor is "stupid humor", I just couldn't bring myself to give it the full score. In its truest form though, funniness according to the dictionary "causes amusment or laughter", and there was plenty of both in that theater.

Overall: 4/5 Again, I'm not going to add this to my list of all-time favorites, but it's a really fun show that's certainly worth seeing once.

Here's a trailer for the movie: