Has a few surprises in store. The biggest is James, an unexpectedly nimble master of the face-plant, the failed jump, and the lopsided tumble.
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's as slam-bang preposterous as any R-rated comedy you can name. It's just that Paul Blart and the film's other characters don't feel the need to use the f-word as the building block of every sentence.
50
L.A. Weekly
L.A. Weekly
Done as an all-out battle to the death, this could have been an entertaining mix of "Die Hard" and "The A-Team."
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film is completely forgettable, frequently funny and weirdly satisfying in a Jersey Loser Gets Respect kind of way.
50
Washington Post
Washington Post
Mediocre, unmemorable comedy.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The only real difference between this and the handful of other Happy Madison flicks is that James (executive producer, co-writer, star) has made this Sandleresque movie family-friendly, with very little swearing, no nudity and all the edginess of a "King of Queens" rerun.
Underneath all the cartoonish mall mayhem and silly slapstick lies a comedy that aspires to be the sort of gentle crowd-pleaser John Hughes used to make.
42
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
James has a sweet, appealing presence, but the dreary, joke-light script and generic direction do him no favors.
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Great comics from Jerry Lewis to Peter Sellers have turned pathetic into comedic. But James never seems to able to get beyond pathetic.
40
VarietyBrian Lowry
VarietyBrian Lowry
An almost shockingly amateurish one-note-joke comedy.
