The case for: ‘He gives a masterclass in screen acting’
Before I begin, let me say this. The trailer for Kevin Can Wait, James’s new sitcom for CBS, looks awful. The script is lazy, and the chemistry between him and Erinn Hayes is nonexistent. Equally, if you detest him on the big screen, I can sympathize. Whether he’s playing the irritating Paul Blart in Mall Cop or Adam Sandler’s “aw shucks” sidekick, I get it. He’s not your cup of tea. But hear me out: Kevin James is hilarious, you just need to dig a little deeper.
James’s career began in improv and standup, when after making appearances in Star Search and Jay Leno; his big break came in 1996 at the Just for Laughs Montreal comedy festival. It was then when Ray Romano gave him a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond, which led him to create his greatest character, Doug Heffernan. The King Of Queens, to this day, remains my favorite network sitcom of all time and I watch it every single day. When the pilot was aired in 1998, Variety was less than kind: “Fat guys with big mouths are back in primetime,” said TV critic Ray Richmond. He called it The Honeymooners minus the charm of Jackie Gleason, but once the season grew in confidence so did the writing. The show had a ridiculously talented cast that included Jerry Stiller, Patton Oswalt and Victor Williams, but its success (it lasted for nine seasons) lived and died on the chemistry between James and Leah Remini. There’s a great moment in season one where Doug and Carrie are arguing in the middle of a cello performance, and no lines are spoken and the scene is performed in complete silence. It’s a masterclass in screen acting.
James is a fantastic physical performer, unbelievably athletic for a man of his size, and this is something we see throughout the show. Another great scene is when Doug shows Carrie how to pole dance and James effortlessly hangs in the air from the pole as if he was a Cirque du Soleil performer. It’s one of the funniest scenes in the entire show. James, to me, remains a great comedian, blessed with great timing and screen presence. His achilles heel, however – just like Chris Rock – has always been catastrophic movie decisions. In King Of Queens, he had the freedom to be charmingly mischievous minus the arrogance, but once he appears on a movie screen, all that goes away as he plays 2D flatpack roles. I don’t think we should blame James for that. I just wish he would fire his manager. LME
The case against: ‘The cinematic works of Kevin James are strictly for the big boy go fall down set’
All right, Luis. I also watched the trailer for Kevin Can Wait in preparation for this rhetorical exercise. It didn’t just make my hair stand on end. It caused my hair to fall out from the nuclearly unfunny blast of crap writing. I do not argue that Kevin James isn’t a talented performer. Few people ascend to his level of fame without acting chops. What I take issue with is his choice in projects.
Whatever you might say about his uncanny ability to contort his face in amusing ways or his comedic timing in the context of a multi-camera sitcom is blunted by his insistence in starring in such woefully misguided films as Grown-Ups, Grown-Ups 2, Here Comes the Boom, Zookeeper, Pixels, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (a movie that aims to be progressive, but achieves the nifty trick of offending people anyway), Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and Paul Blart Mall Cop: 2. Achieving fame seems like it must be a lovely thing. What one does with that fame is something of a test. James has done crap film after crap film, even going as far as making sequels to two of his worst movies. That there isn’t a Zookeeper 2 is one of God’s greatest miracles, right up there with the parting of the Red Sea.
I realize these films are not for me. To expect nuance, cleverness, cultural significance or jokes would be asking too much. The cinematic works of Kevin James are strictly for the “big boy go fall down” set who cackle anytime James tries to cram his hefty frame into a tiny golf cart. Whereas the late Chris Farley had a knack for wringing pathos and affection out of his weight in SNL sketches like the Chippendales tryout with Patrick Swayze or the movie Tommy Boy, Kevin James uses it as a dumb crutch.
I cannot be blamed for pointing out his weight here either, as he does so himself multiple times in the risible Kevin Can Wait commercial. He ate four hamburgers! What a cad. When James eats four fake hamburgers off-screen in a sitcom, it’s hilarious. When I do it at 2am, it’s sad. Even his good friend, the notoriously slothful Adam Sandler, has stretched his ability on numerous occasions. Sandler was fantastic in Funny People and Punch Drunk Love. Even though they were failed experiments, Spanglish, The Cobbler, and Men, Women and Children were at least experiments.
What is abundantly clear from all the promotional materials for Kevin Can Wait is that it is yet another iteration of the tired formula of wacky dad who learns valuable lessons from his patient family each and every week. Instead of a grand social trend or some bellwether of renewed interest in the traditional sitcom protagonist, it’s just another instance of Kevin James showcasing his lack of either confidence or interest in escaping the comfortable box he has built for himself. I’m not saying that Kevin James is uninterested in stretching. I’m saying that he doesn’t care. DS
Kevin Can Wait starts on 19 Sep on CBS
