I watched both Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies today

Paul Blart: Mall Cop has always been some kind of meme on the Internet. I never really understood it because I had never seen the movies, so I decided to change that today.

I often saw references to Paul Blart in the comments of reddit posts, where it would be set up as if some­body was telling an anecdote. Then, the story would take an unexpected turn, something unrealistic would happen, then a reference to Paul Blart: Mall Cop would be made.

After watching the movies today, I sort of understand why Paul Blart is used as a meme.

To put it simply, the Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies are so stupid, unrealistic, and facepalm-inducing that they’re somewhat funny.

The main idea of the storyline is that there is an overweight man named Paul Blart who is a mall cop. He rides around on a Segway making sure that everyone in the mall is safe.

Paul is very dedicated to his job, and tries his best. Unfortunately for him, mall cops don’t really get the credit they deserve, and the mall’s security department is short of both status/reputation and resources. When he tries to make something right, he is often met with laughs.

In the first movie, Paul is on duty on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) when a hostage situation erupts, putting the lives of his crush and his daughter at risk. In the second movie, Paul is at a security convention where he discovers that a bunch of criminals are trying to steal art from a hotel.

The way the story unfolds is very silly, and anything remotely close to it would never actually happen. The movie sort of gives Paul the “invincible” persona, where he can do anything, and the bad guys are unable to just shoot him and move on with their plans.

There were some pretty decently funny parts, though, and if you accept it as a movie intended to be dumb and cheesy and watch it in that context, then I’m sure at least some people will enjoy it.

 

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