Blu-Ray Review: ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ With Kevin James a Massive Comedy Hit

CHICAGO – Being a big fan of Kevin James and his underrated sitcom “The King of Queens” and marveling at the massive box office for Steve Carr’s “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” I approached the Blu-Ray release of this hit title with cautious optimism. I’m still very happy for the talented James, but he deserves better than this slapstick-y and inconsistent comedy.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

James plays the title character, a mild-mannered, sweet guy who dreams of becoming a State Trooper but his hypoglycemia has kept him a mall cop. Paul is a single father, close to his mother, bullied by the more popular employees at the mall, and the rare person who is overly kind to strangers. He’s incredibly easy to root for.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop will be released on Blu-Ray on May 19th, 2009.
Photo credit: Sony

So, when Paul spots a new kiosk employee (Jayma Mays) at the cleverly-named “Unbeweavable” wig stand, the audience naturally roots for the big fella to get the cute girl. But what first seems like an awkward romantic comedy becomes more of a farce when the most inept group of movie criminals in a long time decide to take over Blart’s mall on Black Friday, the shopping day after Thanksgiving. The only thing in their way is a rotund security guard on a Segway.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop will be released on Blu-Ray on May 19th, 2009. Photo credit: Sony

To accurately judge “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” one must certainly consider its target audience. This is a family movie. Don’t ignore the PG rating. I think pre-teen kids will enjoy watching it with their parents and that’s not an overly common mainstream film. That’s why the movie made a truckload of cash (an amazing $146 million domestically, more than the last five movies from its star producer Adam Sandler). In a season of high-brow Oscar fare, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” was the perfect alternative for the entire family. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense.

Now, an admirable and under-served demographic is one thing but I couldn’t shake the feeling that “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” could have and should have been better. For the adults in the audience, it’s just not that funny. It’s too farcical, none of the characters outside Blart are given anything to do (Bobby Cannavale is laughably bad), and it doesn’t play to James’ comic timing. He’s better than this material.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop” is one of those movies that’s hard to hate but not funny enough to love. I’m very happy that the movie made Kevin James a star but it only hints at what he can do with a better script and more competent, less generic direction.

The Sony Blu-Ray for “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” produced a similar critical shrug from me as the movie. The video and audio are service-able but not notable and the special features are predictable and kind of on the light side for such a hit film. All that’s included are deleted scenes, “Fun on Set,” and “Stunts,” along with some BD-Live features like “Cinechat” and a digital copy of the film.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” the film and the Blu-Ray/DVD, could have been a lot worse but I think we’ll soon discover that Kevin James can deliver a lot more than this so-so comedy and so-so Blu-Ray release.

Check out the trailer and see if you’re interested for yourself:

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com