Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 2009
Director: Steve Carr
Cast: Kevin James, Jayma Mays, Keir O'Donnell, Raini Rodriguez, Adhir Kalyan, Bobby Cannavale
Rating: PG
Release Date: 6 January 2009
Running Time: 1 hour 31 minutes

The Movie Review

Paul Blart: Mall Cop film still 1


PAUL BLART: MALL COP
Storyline:
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Ending:
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Every movie usually leaves you an impression over something, or gives you a particular feeling. Be it either whimsical dream, strong urge to date someone, patriotism or even paranoid over something. Of course the period of time on which a movie being released contributes to the intensity of that feeling. Relatively-Subjectively speaking, Paul Blart: Mall Cop gave me this rare feeling, to see the normality of everyday life in a movie, to feel... civilized. Probably because of so many horror movies I reviewed these days and comedy films with many f-words thrown in, or probably because Steve Carr knew what's been missing in a movie, heartwarming comedy with simple laugh.

This comedy revolves around the daily miserable life of Paul Blart the Mall Cop (Kevin James) who is also a single parent who lives with his kindhearted mother (Shirley Knight) and lovable daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez). Paul failed on his effort to be a real cop and failed to keep his marriage but successful to be a social misfit. Why? No, not because that he's such a big jerk, but because of his hypoglycemia (makes him faint when not having enough sugar in his blood) and because Paul is such a nice people on the inside but goofy and insecure on the outside. It's an awful lonely life Paul has to endure until he meets the owner of a wig store called Unbeweavable, the cute, sympathetic and probably the most affectionate girl in town, Amy (Jayma Mays of Blind Dating (2006) and Epic Movie (2007)). Although Paul is so bad at making conversation with Amy, she never shows any discouragement to him.

But of course Paul Blart has his bad luck again and is now in a state of uncertain relationship with Amy. However one day while maintaining the safety of one of the stores in the mall, a group of highly-organized burglars storm in and take over the place with 6 hostages on their hands, including Amy. Now it's up to Paul, who manages to avoid the burglars' attention, to save Amy and protect his beloved mall. Could he ever achieve that and not fail again?

Talking about normality, of course almost every comedy sometimes go over the top on some scenes and the jokes are often illogical. Paul Blart: Mall Cop could not escape that, and in some parts we could find many plot holes. But probably to the filmmakers' defense, fixing that plot holes means that they have to put extra violence which would've resulted in an unwanted-rating-upgrade by the MPAA. Additional to the flaws is the burglars who are very very over-the-top with their highly trained Parkour ability which is more suitable in action movies like Sons of the Wind (2004) and Banlieue 13 (2004). For their scenes, they are really ruining the integrity of the story. Besides the characters are also too over-the-top.

If you can overlook that, then there are many things to be enjoyed from this comedy film. The one that I admire the most is the characters. They are simply and absolutely fabulous and charming. From Paul Blart who is played very well by Kevin James, his affectionate Mom (Man, that's one nice lady), Maya who is entirely different from the stuck-up teenage characters often found in movies, Amy that's such a lovable sweetheart, and even other supporting characters which are Paul's friends at the mall. Their relationship gives a decency meaning and civilized perspective of everyday's life. The acting quality is not awesome-like, it's just that Paul Blart: Mall Cop made me enjoy my time viewing the film. Very much.

The jokes are of good quality, they are not violent but acceptable laughing stock. Yes, not all of them are funny and some even don't contain punch line. But as an integral part of this comedy movie, they are again good enough. Kevin James certainly has the talent for clean jokes, and hopefully he could write even better movie next time.

It's all in good time, if you seek for something that doesn't overwhelm your mind and could simply give you a good viewing time, Paul Blart: Mall Cop is an excellent choice and of course it's also recommended for you who would like to see it with the young members of your family.