Kevin James is somewhat of a specialist when it comes to his acting career. This applies only in movies.
His TV career is illustrious, having played Doug Heffernan on The King of Queens, a wildly successful show. When it comes to movies, he can play one character. He excels in playing a pudgy and painfully awkward character.
The career of James is like that of NBA player Baron Davis — when they care and try, they do a wonderful job, but when looking disinterested, you want them to leave the court or screen. He can produce a cult classic, a la Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and then he can drop Grown-Ups on us. He had another solid performance in True Memoirs of an International Assassin.
He plays his role of a part-time writer that hates his full-time job perfectly. However, the true comedy of the film comes when James’ fictional books are taken as a non-fictional piece. While the high numbers of people buying his book were a nice side-effect, an unwanted side effect was that a Venezuelan cartel and various other high ranking individuals believed that James was, in fact, a real assassin, and they kidnap him to do their bidding. What ensues is a mildly entertaining and humorous tale of Kevin James running through the country of Venezuela with a potential love interest, whose storyline never truly gets fulfilled. Although the ending of the film is somewhat unclear, and a few plotlines go unanswered, James overall makes a solid film. Netflix rarely misses when making an original, and they succeeded once more.
Without factoring in the screenwriting or plot line, Kevin James excels in his job to play his role. James succeeding at playing an awkward, overweight man is about as reliable as a Sean Livingston mid-range jump shot, and I would trust Sean Livingston with my life from mid-range.
James does as we expect: he comes across as awkward, unable and makes everyone root for them as if they are Leicester City trying to win the Premier League. Watching James stumble his way through a room, interact with attractive women and try to function in our society brings joy that can only resemble that of a Bartolo Colon homerun (RIP Big Sexy).
Luckily, watching this film is not like watching either of the Grown Ups films, which is the equivalent to watching the 2004 men’s Olympic basketball team. What holds James back is that he is a specialist, he is to the movie industry what Devin Hester was to special teams. Yet, using your one specialty can pay dividends, as you see with James producing a solid film once more.
Tyler Corbit is a freshman studying journalism with a focus in strategic communications at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think of Kevin James? Let Tyler know by tweeting him @tylercorbit.
