Disco Vietnam rebuttal: In defense of ‘Paul Blart’

Cribbster got into a bit of a tiff with Disco Vietnam ringleader Barry Schwartz over “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” After several weeks of goading, he wrote a response to my astonishment that the movie did so insanely well at the box office.

What follows is Barry’s rebuttal.

With the release of Seth Rogen’s new comedy “Observe and Report,” today seems as good a time as any to revisit (and one hopes fairly reconsider) 2009’s other film featuring the hilarity and hijinx of shopping center security, Kevin James’ “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.”

TRAILER REVIEW: ‘Observe and Report’

UPDATE: Warner Brothers yanked the trailer off YouTube. Another version is here at Trailer Addict, however. Good times.

A little bit’s been said about “Observe and Report” for two reasons: 1) It’s Seth Rogen’s next comedy, and his movies are now essentially events among the Apatow-converted. And 2) It’s a comedy about a mall cop.

Writer suing the crap out of ‘Paul Blart’?

Kevin James in "Paul Blart: Mall Cop"

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop” finally gets its comeuppance!

Alfred Thomas Catalfo, some wannabe screenwriter from New Hampshire, is maybe suing the pants off Sony Pictures because he claims he wrote an extraordinarily similar script called “Mall Cop,” which he sent in 2002 to Happy Madison Productions, which, funnily enough, produced “Paul Blart.”

WashPost: ‘Paul Blart’ No. 1? Christ.

I’ve written about “Paul Blart: Mall Cop’s” unfathomable reign atop the nationwide box office for two weeks already. But The Washington Post assigned Style section funnyman Hank Steuver to the “Blart” beat this week, and he churned out a decent story today that includes a few choice moments:

People fucking love ‘Paul Blart’

For some reason, people love "Paul Blart."

People are going bonkers for “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” which has to be the most to-the-point title since “Snakes On a Plane.”

The movie raked in $21.5 million over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks movie revenue estimates. The movie’s estimated production budget was about $26 million, and the film has made a total of about $65 million in just two weeks. That’s some rare shit right there. Kevin James is going to be in a lot more movies about fat people falling down a lot.