Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2009

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: James gives it everything he's got, totally committing to the character and delivering clean comedy which often times is often more difficult than creating just a raunch-fest. Read more

Nathan Lee, New York Times: Directed by Steve Carr, a man who knows how to put a camera in front of things, if little else, and written, sort of, by Nick Bakay and Mr. James. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: To call this Kevin James comedy fatuous might be misinterpreted as an attack on the star's girth -- so how about inane, tepid, lazy, puerile, phony, and unfunny? Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's just not particularly funny. That Segway, alas, only goes so far. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: A shamelessly sentimental comedy with a few crude gags thrown in arbitrarily. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Give this to Paul Blart: Mall Cop: It delivers on everything it promises. Which is to say, nearly nothing. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's unlikely that even WALL-E could bring himself to scoop up this movie and leave it on his post-apocalyptic junk heap. Read more

Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times: [The film] oo often settles for easy, lazy jokes, most of which revolve around either food or running into stuff. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Surprisingly winning. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Sensationally stupid, haphazardly made and qualifying as unmitigated trash by any standards, Paul Blart: Mall Cop also manages to be consistently hilarious, thanks to star Kevin James. Read more

Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly: [Kevin James] proves to be a warm leading man who grounds the movie as it morphs into a loopy heist thriller after a promising start as something entirely different: a gentle comedy of suburban underachievement. Read more

Christine Champ, Film.com: In places the plot sags a bit and some jokes don't quite hit their mark or tickle the funny bone as much as they're obviously meant to. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: [James] plays yet another misfit, but one who's so two-dimensional, needy (and frankly annoying) that it's difficult to root for him. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: This isn't brain surgery; this is daffy entertainment that plays to its strengths, with director Steve Carr trusting in James' deadpan earnesty Read more

Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly: Somewhere beneath its mediocre comedic trappings, there's a decent action movie trying to fight its way free. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Perfectly inoffensive and almost entirely unfunny. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Laughs occasionally ensue. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The thin comic appeal of Kevin James is laid on a bit thicker in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, his first solo star vehicle for the big screen. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The film is completely forgettable, frequently funny and weirdly satisfying in a Jersey Loser Gets Respect kind of way. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's a juvenile motion picture designed primarily for a juvenile audience. But there's a little more here than one might reasonably expect. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a slapstick comedy with a hero who is a nice guy. I thought that wasn't allowed anymore. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Shoot me now! Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: I suppose the food equivalent would be that nacho cheese that comes in a can with little chunks of jalapeno mixed in. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: As cheapo larks go, it's a winningly unassuming one: no stars, no big action set pieces. Just a fat guy, a near-empty mall, and a lot of really ridiculous ideas. Read more

Daniel Getahun, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A senseless Hollywood comedy. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: James, at his best when he lets loose, plays his character a little too straight and so loses some of the movie's comic potential. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It's surprisingly okay, in a January kind of way. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Unmemorable, unfunny and unoriginal. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The last name Blart may be the funniest thing in the movie, so that's a hint as to just how bad this shopping-center saga can be. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: An almost shockingly amateurish one-note-joke comedy on which the star also shares writing and producing credit. Read more

Jen Chaney, Washington Post: [Has] such obviously humble intentions that busting on it is a bit like harassing the junior high school outcast who just wants to eat his tater tots in peace. Read more