Kevin James seems like a nice enough guy. I mean, I’ve watched “King of Queens” a few times when nothing else was on. It’s just a fat-guy-has-a-hot-wife sitcom, but James is fairly enjoyable. And he was fine in “Hitch.” Whatever.

What troubles me is the success of “Pall Blart: Mall Cop.” As I write this, “Paul Blart” just surpassed a domestic box office gross of $140,000,000.

To put that in perspective, here is a list of the movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture last year, and their earnings. Also, “Paul Blart” has been in theaters for a shorter time than any of these.

- “Frost/Nixon” – $18,000,000
- “Milk” – $32,000,000
- “The Reader” – $33,000,000
- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” – $127,000,000
- “Slumdog Millionaire” – $137,000,000

How the hell did this happen? Are we really such suckers for the lowest common denominator of comedy?

I’ll finish with one piece of related, positive news. There’s another mall cop movie coming out that looks risky, intelligent, and creative (Read: Another film that will make less money than “Paul Blart”).

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Post tags: Kevin James, Paul Blart, Seth Rogen

© Chris for Diafero Collective, 2009. | Permalink | %%comment_text%%