A never-ending cliche

If you’ve seen one stupid comedy, you’ve seen them all.

You know the one where a pathetic loser who can’t get a girl ends up being the hero in the end? That’s “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” in essence, only it might be even worse than many of those films.

The bumbling Blart is played by Kevin James, who also co-wrote and produced the film. Blart is a 10-year “veteran” mall cop who missed the cut trying out for the New Jersey State Police.

The flow is just as pathetic as the lead character, and at times downright awkward. Ridiculous one-liners permeate throughout.

Perhaps the worst part of “Mall Cop” is its lack of direction. It starts off as a cheap comedy and then develops into a sappy love story. Out of the blue, it decides to develop a plot, and it becomes an action movie after a pack of tattooed thugs take over the mall. 

At this point, the film tries to fit into all three genres, something that barely works in intelligently written movies, let alone a script that a 12-year-old kid could have written.
While James is a likeable character with some degree of comedic talent, it rarely shows up in this 87-minute cliche.