Paul Blart: Mall Cop

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Interview with Kevin James

With a supporting role in Hitch, a co-star credit in I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, The King Of Queens's Kevin James is doing his best to break out of TV with his first starring role in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He needs to be a bit more picky with his roles if he's to make it, however. Here James plays the titular character, a mall cop who desperately wants to be a real cop but can't because he's hypoglycaemic and spends his days zooming about the mall on his Segway trying to impress cute shop assistant Amy (Mays). He gets a chance to prove his worth when a gang of thieves break into the mall and hold Amy and others hostage... This family comedy is a movie of two halves: the first half has James crashing his Segway, eating stuff, falling over and being over zealous when it comes to his job (he stops a guy in a motorised wheelchair for speeding); the Die Hard parody/homage second half is far more enjoyable but you can see the jokes coming a mile away. The gags are functionary, tired and all are based around James's weight. He's fat, see. That's the joke. It's tough to be hard on a comedy that has a lot of heart to offer but a comedy lives and dies with its laugh ratio and this one barely musters the occasional snort (that sudden exhaling noise one makes between nothing and a smile). James is likeable and will make funnier movies, but this one will be forgotten a week after it opens.