Last week, the hotly anticipated conclusion to the Paul Blart: Mall Cop trilogy was released. Hand this thing a “ Best Picture” Oscar and let’s call it a day.THE TOPICS AND ISSUES COVERED IN THIS EDITION ARE NOT REAL NEWS. (I think “ High on You” was a bigger hit, but let’s be honest… “The Search is Over” just SAYS so much more.) And when the soundtrack is backed up with REO Speedwagon, Bon Jovi, and KISS… DONE. POINT #3: Any movie’s pretty good if the director shamelessly blasts old Survivor songs throughout… and it’s hard not to like something with “ The Search is Over” cranked through a great sound system. And because we care, we're willing to forgive other missteps. Ultimately, because the storytellers don’t mock or belittle Blart-even though he’s the movie’s comedic engine-he’s relatable enough that we care about and invest in his mission (or, at the very least, we understand and relate to it). The stories may not be as weighty as, say, “ Slumdog Millionaire” or “ Revolutionary Road,” but so what? Simple sentences like these give us all the info we need to relate to and root for the characters.) So in each of these sentences, an entire story is set in motion. And lastly, they give the characters real deadlines: November, and Rosie’s anniversary. They give characters’ wants real stakes: if he fails Blart will have to do sign up for an online dating service (which he clearly doesn’t want to do), and Rosie’s husband won’t know how much she cares. They lay out what these characters need to do in order accomplish those wants: begin dating, and learn to sing. They root these tangible wants in genuine emotional motivation: Blart wants to find love, Rosie wants to let her husband know how much she still cares. They give characters specific and tangible wants: Blart wants a girlfriend Rosie wants to sing the song. I love these lines because they perfectly set up everything their stories require to work. Blart’s daughter, Maya, reminds him that he once said to her: “If I don’t have a girlfriend by November, I’ll let you sign me up for .” (This line reminds me of a similar line from “ The Wedding Singer,” when Robbie-the Adam Sandler character-is giving music lessons to Rosie-an old woman-and she says, “If I can learn to sing this song perfectly for my anniversary, my husband will know how much I still love him.” (Another “also” – at one point, there’s a line which I LOVE… not because it’s a brilliant or beautiful line, but because it “works” so perfectly. (Also, James never mugs or lets his performance talk down to the audience, which is nice-and helps him win all those sympathy points. (He even bears no hard feelings to the ex-wife who used and left him.) Even Maya and his mother want him to find someone, making us hurt for him in a superbly relatable way. His love for Maya and his mom is palpable… and he clearly has a lot more love to give, but no one to share it with. Secondly, we see how desperately Blart longs to find a new wife. It’s silly, sure… but it does a great job of illustrating, in visual and dramatic ways, just how much this guy believes in himself and what he’s doing. We then see him in his fallback job as a security officer, where he takes his job so seriously he gives wheelchaired shoppers tickets for “reckless driving,” talks in police lingo over his walkie-talkie, and attempts to make citizens arrest on two women bickering over a bra in Victoria’s Secret. The film opens with Blart racing to finish his final police academy exam… and he’s clearly the start student, acing every test, until-inches from the finish line-he passes out from hypoglycemia. First, we see how badly this man wants to be a protector of citizens.