Picture Die Hard I and II if Bruce Willis were replaced with Kevin James, airports and high rises became a mall, and criminal masterminds and terrorists became a gang of tattooed acrobats, and you will pretty much have Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Harebrained get-rich scheme involving taking an entire mall hostage and ripping off credit card machines, check. Overweight, hypoglycemic, romantically-challenged mall cop the lone man left to defend the mall and save the hostages, check. And of course, just the right romantic and familial connections to motivate our unexpected hero to rise to the task, wouldn't be a goofy action comedy without it.

Really, not much goes on in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. In the beginning, Paul Blart (Kevin James) demonstrates just how much of an embarrassment/failure he is in almost every aspect of his life. In the end, he proves that given the right incentive and put to the task, he can outfight and outwit a half dozen criminals, upstage an entire police force, and get the girl. And in between, we pretty much get a feature-length commercial for Segway scooters, the Kevin James physical comedy hour complete with 101 falls, crashes, and slams into every immovable object possible, and enough police interruption to remind us that the situation at hand is actually supposed to be one of serious danger.

More goofy, ridiculous, and implausible than anything else, Paul Blart isn't exactly the comedy of the century. Its twists are pretty much visible from the beginning. Blart's own personal evolution is one we have seen before. But nonetheless, Blart's story is one that rings true. Whether it be because of our job, our love life, or our social status, many of us know what it is like to feel like an outcast, an embarrassment, and/or a failure. Standing below the bar of what we or others have always felt we should be able to professionally achieve, the ability to see value in how we do spend our days can become near impossible. Unloved, unappreciated, or disrespected in our relationships, loving and respecting ourselves can seem almost illogical. But as we see through Blart, sometimes all we need is one task to remind both ourselves and others that we've got just as much to offer as anyone else.

While Paul Blart may not be the most intelligent, suave, and agile crime-fighter in the world, when it comes to the well-being of others, he takes his responsibility as a mall cop seriously. While the danger he is in may not always be felt, Blart spends almost the entire movie risking his life for others. He may get beaten up, thrown around, and slammed against walls, but as long as those he cares about are in danger, he refuses to give up. And in his commitment and courage to stand up to that task, he proves that the value of a man will never be found in a job description or an online dating profile but in what he actually gives to the life before him and those he shares it with.

At the end of it all, Blart still may not be the toughest cop on the force or the hottest man on perfectmatch.com, but to those who he rescues from their hostile captors, he becomes nothing short of the most heroic mall cop around. His above-and-beyond-the-job-description efforts remind us that more valuable than being able to win a job is what we are actually willing to bring to a job once we have it. His somewhat romantically-motivated determination argues that our best selves will rarely be brought out simply by pursuing what we desire, but instead in living a life that is truly about more than just us. And nicely tied up with a kiss, a job offer, and smiles all around, as predictably ridiculous as Paul Blart: Mall Cop may be, it is a reminder that no matter our past embarrassments or current failings, in each and every one of us is a hero just waiting to step up to the plate.