Delayed Reaction: Paul Blart: Mall Cop

The Pitch: I'm not sure there was a pitch. Kevin James co-wrote it. He's pals with Adam Sandler. It's a Happy Madison co-production. I doubt there was much more discussion than "Hey, Adam, can I have a few million for a movie that should at least break even?"

What Took Me So Long: This is going to sound weird but I always begrudged Paul Blart for taking Taken's thunder that winter. They came out around the same time and Paul Blart was the more unexpected surprise hit.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Absolutely no one expected this to blow up at the box office, so from a box office historian's perspective I wanted to see this to understand what worked so well. Kevin James gives this role everything he's got. He plays it as big as he can without ever making Paul Blart a cartoon. That is extremely hard to do and he doesn't get enough credit for succeeding at it. It's a tight hour and a half and doesn't build more into the story than is needed. Jayma Mays is one of the best return values you get in movies, as she doesn't demand a large paycheck but probably should.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: You don't get more "family friendly" than this. The jokes are easy. It spoofs a lot of action movie tropes by underplaying them instead of overdoing it (ex. He slides on the floor and stops short rather than crashing into something or he gets sidelined by a splinter). It's rare to have a movie make $100 million that I could just as easily see go straight to DVD. I'm not being harsh about the movie because I respect what it accomplished, even though I didn't particularly like it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend