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Kevin James in Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Yes friends, it is I…Plus1. I’m back, tan, rested, and ready to do my first movie review of 2009.

In the tradition of great “hostage” movies such as Die Hard, Passenger 57, Under Siege, and Die Hard 2 comes a movie with a lot of heart, a lot of courage, and lots of laughs. Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

I have to admit right at the top of this review that I liked this movie, and I’m not a big Kevin James fan. There were quite a few moments in the movie where I had a big ole Simpsons grin going. And I am happy to say that the trailer does not show all the funny scenes.

James plays mall cop Paul Blart, a divorced father living in his mother’s home in New Jersey, raising his teenage daughter, and dreaming of becoming a New Jersey State Trooper. Due to hypoglycemia he can’t seem to pass the final physical exam. So he takes pride in being a mall cop for the local mall – something he’s been doing for the past ten years.

The plot is straight out of the Die Hard handbook – bad guys take over the mall on Black Friday (that’s the Friday after Thanksgiving when all the Christmas sales start, for our non-USA readers) to steal credit card numbers from all of the stores. They take six hostages that happen to be in the bank at the time of their siege. Problem is that one of the hostages is Amy (played by Jayma Mays), the woman that Paul has a crush on.

Paul pledged an oath to protect the mall and everyone inside, so he stays to stop the bad guys and becomes the eyes

and ears for the local police department and SWAT team that have now surrounded the mall. In typical Die Hard fashion, Paul proceeds to remove the bad guys one at a time until it’s just him and the lead villain, played by Keir O’Donnell (from Sons of Anarchy) left at the end.

There are tons of LOL (that’s Laugh Out Loud for you non-text-messaging readers) moments. One such scene, which is shown in the trailers, is where Paul dives behind the mall directory for cover but comes up just a tad short.

The writing of Nick Bakay and Kevin James (both TV guys – Bakay the voice of Salem on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and James from “King of Queens”) keeps the flow of the movie going. Because they are both from TV there are a lot of ‘hey, isn’t that that guy from TV show X?’ actors in the movie. Peter Gerety (Homicide: Life on the Street), Bobby Cannavale (Third Watch), and Adam Ferrara (Rescue Me) make up this part of the cast.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop is rated PG for some violence, mild crude humor and suggestive humor. With a run time of 87 minutes you’ll be able to see the move and get your shopping done afterwords.

I give this a

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