"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" Review

Movie: Paul Blart: Mall Cop * Official Site * Preview & Trailer	In Theaters: Jan. 16, 2009
Runtime: 87 minutes	Directed by: Steve Carr
MPAA Rating: PG for some violence, mild crude and suggestive humor, and language	Gecko Rating:

Sometimes you just need a goofy movie to make things right in your world, you know? "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" fills the void nicely. Kevin James ("The King of Queens") is great at the physical comedy, and there’s a lot of that in this movie. He also wrote the screenplay, along with Nick Bakay. Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions produced the movie, and it’s more along the lines of "Bedtime Stories" than "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." Good family fare.

Kevin James stars as the title character, Paul Blart, a chubby, mild-mannered guy who works as a security guard at a mall. He takes his job very seriously, tooling around the mall on his Segway, breaking up altercations, and pulling over old guys on scooters who are weaving too much through the crowd. These Segway scenes are the highlight of the movie, because Blart is so serious about it, but looks so funny riding around. And the rest of the security guards just scoff at Blart for taking his job so seriously.

On the home front, we learn that Blart is a single dad to Maya (Raini Rodriguez), and that Maya’s mother was an illegal immigrant who just hooked up with Blart to get into the country, then left he and Maya. They live with his mother (Shirley Knight), who takes good care of them, but both she and Maya wish that Paul would find a girlfriend so he wasn’t so lonely.

At work, Paul has eyes for Amy, a girl selling hair extensions at a mall kiosk. She’s played by Jayma Mays, whom you might recognize from "Epic Movie" or "Ugly Betty" (she played "Charlie" in eight episodes this season). She has a sweet quality, and you feel like she’ll be able to see through Paul’s chubby exterior to the nice guy underneath.

The first half of the film moves along a bit slow. You’re sort of waiting for the main thing to happen, which we know from the trailer involves a group of thieves (led by Keir O’Donnell) who take over the mall. They clear out the mall in order to steal credit card code numbers, not realizing that Paul is left inside.

Things pick up in the second half, because Kevin James gets to use all of the physical comedy he does so well, crashing through ceilings and trying to figure out how to outsmart the thieves, despite his physical limitations. They’re a crack team who never go anywhere without using some sort of gymnastics or skateboard skills. But Paul knows that mall better than anyone, and he uses that to his advantage.

Aside from one scene involving a character getting knock-down drunk (totally unnecessary), there’s really no objectionable content here. The story involves hostages, but you never feel like anyone is going to get hurt, because it’s just not that kind of movie.

I saw this with my kids, ages 11 and 14, and we all thought it was pretty funny, with several laugh-out-loud moments.

Images: Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Sony Pictures, 2009