Box Office Winner

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this weekend's box office winner was the one and only "Paul Blart: Mall Cop". Not Slumdog Millionaire, not Marley and Me (go ahead and argue that these movies have already been out whereas the former was just opening). In this rough, hurting economy and torrential weather, we Americans went out to the theatre and spent our hard-earned ten bucks on a movie about a mall cop.

I didn't even know there was a market for movies about mall cops. Although, if there is - let's face it, this movie had a monopoly of it. Now, granted, I know Kevin James has a fan base and I've seen him on tv doing some good, humorous work across from Stacey Carosi, but seriously, the trailer for this movie LOOKED mind-numbing for your average stoned ape. (I have not actually seen said movie, so I cannot give a fair and balanced critique. I say this only as my reaction to the first impression.)

Anywho - I can't help but think this says something about the mindset of the American people. Has our taste been so dumbed-down by everything in pop culture that this is our new brand of humor - or - are we so down in the dumps and depressed at the current state of affairs that we need some good low-quality slapstick humor to put a smile on our face? Maybe it's that, no matter how sorry our own current state of affairs are, well, they look pretty good in comparison to those of a mall cop.