Paul Blart - Mall Cop

Director: Steve Carr

Starring: Kevin James

If you didn't know that Paul Blart - Mall Cop was produced by a certain Adam Sandler, you would within minutes of this dreadfully unfunny film starting! A star-vehicle for Kevin James to try to launch a big screen career, it managed to make some good box office figures on release in the US, which says more about the mentality of the US cinema-going public than it does about the film itself. 

It's not that James as Blart isn't a likeable character - he is. Nor is it that the basic story lacks any promise - it does. It is all down to how badly it is put together, and the shoulders of responsibilty for messing that up belong to the director Steve Carr (Daddy Day Care, Are We Done Yet, Dr Dolittle 2...the warning signs were there). If there is a good opportunity for a gag, pun, bit of slapstick entertainment, or just pure japery, Carr misses it and has the cast do something else instead. It is as if they did multiple shoots of scenes and he deliberately chose the worst one - either that or the rest were truly dreadful! 

It's not a total failure, in the sense of the 'Move' franchise, as there is something of a warm heart in here, and it at least sticks to one idea, it is just so badly handled that the end result is a film that will really only appeal to those who liked...well... Daddy Day Care, Are We Done Yet? and Dr Dolittle 2. For the rest of us it will be just another piece of trash from Sandler's production company.