OK, I can’t believe I’m saying this. These slapstick goofball movies just aren’t my thing. But this paragraph from Ebert’s review gives it promise:
Daniel Craig and Keven James? It made me smile to think it.
I love Kevin James and am really in the mood for a goofy comedy, so I am on board for this one. So many movies coming out look depressing and serious…I need a laff!!!
Great review by Ebert, you gotta respect a critic who gives serious thought to a goofy comedy like this.
Count me in too. I think Kevin James is funny and very handsome (I never got the questions about why hot Carrie would be married to his character in The King of Queens.) This movie actually looks like it is pretty funny, so my son and I are planning to see it.
I may have to see it too, because my wife may be a shopper in it. They used the nearby Burlington Mall for a lot of the movie, and my wife was walking by while they were filming.
I saw the trailer and utterly surprised myself by cracking up at it. It honestly looks funny, even if half the movie is fat jokes.
Major strike: January and February are the dumping ground for movies the studios/distributors think are losers (with the exception of delayed-rollout award-bait titles, which can be identified by having already been given a limited release in LA and New York). This is the Wasteland, people. Occasionally something breaks the pattern (e.g. Silence of the Lambs in Jan 1991) but those movies are the exception that proves the rule. Perhaps this movie is a victim of studio politics, or some other crippling problem that doomed it to this season, but it’s got a big perceptual hill to climb with respect to the overall history of movie release patterns.
My 13 year old is intent on seeing this so I will be there along with you guys. Hopefully I’ll be laughing too.
I thought I saw this movie for sale on Blue Ray at Best Buy the other day.
They really used the Burlington mall? I am SO there! I’m usually not into this type of goofy comedy. I.e., I don’t do Adam Sandler. But for some reason, I’m drawn to this. Kevin James is a scream, I bet I like it!
Not a chance in hell I’ll see this. Ebert seems to be liking everything lately; he must be on some kick-ass painkillers!
Agree with this. I like a man with some meat on his bones. Kevin James is actually kind of hot. Of course, I think Patton Oswalt is kind of cute, too, so I’m weird…
My five-year-old daughter is in love with the trailer. This movie will serve as a trial run for her, to see if she’ll sit through a non-cartoon feature.
I’m glad that Ebert took Paul Blart for what it is, and didn’t try measuring it up to Apocalypse Now or something. ISTM that he’s normally been fair to “stupid” comedies in the past, but that’s more of an impression that something I can support with specific examples.
Absolutely. IIRC, they were filming last winter. My wife was pissed because the film crew goons were trying to prevent her from getting to “The Childrens Place” on the last day of a sale, when she had only 30 minutes to shop and the youngest kid in tow.
We who have meat on our bones are glad someone likes us… 
Even if the admirer is the completely wrong gender for the admiree. 
lol. Hey, we need all the admiration we can get.
So yeah, how much was spent on marketing for this one? It’s on all the friggin time.
I don’t get to see commercials. The only time I saw something about this movie was when I was home and saw the trailer in the theater. I thought the trailer was very funny. I also thought that they probably put all the funny parts in the trailer. If not it will probably be a pretty good movie. Kevin James does physical comedy very well.
I’m torn, too. I also hate slapstick goofball movies. But for some reason, I like Kevin James, and the previews have made me (and my husband, who feels the same way) actually laugh out loud.
I think it’s because there actually seems to be some heart to it. A lot of protagonists in slapstick comedies are often unlikeable pricks or simply incompetent idiots, but both Kevin James and Paul Blart are pretty likeable, and the character doesn’t seem to be incompetent, merely physically unfit for normal police work (hence why I expect it to be primarily fat jokes).