In addition to Catherine, “The Crew” introduces a young up-and-coming female racer, Jessie (Paris Berelec), as a rival for the team’s current driver Jake (Freddie Stroma). But while the world has evolved in the 14 years since “The King of Queens” went off the air, it seems James’ perspective on these issues has not. However, none of the crew have any interest in listening to Catherine, and the majority of the season is spent with Kevin leading the charge to undermine Catherine at every turn, with Kevin preferring to enable mediocrity rather than strive for the highest levels of success (a sentiment that could also speak to James’ seeming approach to his career).Ī consistent through line in James’ television work is the consideration of a man struggling to understand that the world he grew up in, including his perception of masculinity and gender roles, is becoming obsolete. A Stanford grad who found success in Silicon Valley, Catherine has little in common with her new employees, but brings to the table several strategic, forward-thinking ideas for how the team could break out of their rut and become real contenders in racing. Like most of James’ characters, Kevin is a self-deprecating man-child who loves old-school values, cheap beer, and protecting the status quo, which makes having to listen to his progressive new boss a challenge.
From showrunner Jeff Lowell (“The Ranch”), the workplace comedy stars James as Kevin, the bumbling crew chief of a middling Nascar racing team, whose job becomes a lot more complicated after the team’s owner retires and puts his millennial daughter Catherine (Jillian Mueller) in charge. The latter was made from a script credited to James and Nick Bakay.Ī guy named Duke McBride, who told The Wrap that he worked on Paul Blart, claimed studio execs were "so shocked when they read the scripts side-by-side that that they immediately sent a Sony bigwig" to Catalfo "with an apology and a check to 'work it out' in typical Hollywood fashion." McBride said the film's title was "mysteriously switched to 'Untitled Kevin James Project'" for a while and alleged that James "looked pretty sheepish for a few days, too." McBride's version of events has not been confirmed by Catalfo, James, or the studio, so take it as you will.You don’t have to watch a minute of Kevin James’ new Netflix series, “ The Crew,” to know exactly what the show is like. Catalfo said he sent his script to Happy Madison - the production company that wound up making Paul Blart.
Other similarities: both movies have scenes set in Victoria's Secret and the Rainforest Café. Like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Catalfo's story concerns a sad sack mall security guard who thwarts a robbery. Though this is all unsubstantiated scuttlebutt, it certainly doesn't paint a flattering picture of an actor who butters his bread playing a perplexed everyman.Īccording to The Wrap, lawyer and screenwriter Alfred Thomas Catalfo shopped a script called Mall Cop in the early 2000s. Or yet another allegation from a commenter who worked at a car dealership near the set of Grown Ups, who claimed that all dealership employees were specifically told by management "not to even look" at James while he shopped there. honestly a situation where I needed someones undivided attention, it's gonna be when I'm ordering food at at restaurant, right?" Okay, so maybe he's got us there.īut what about another commenters claim that when he got a chance to visit the King of Queens set, James refused to acknowledge him the entire time, even when they were standing right next to each other. Citing a story that said he supposedly sends his assistant into restaurants ahead of him "to make sure that the waitstaff doesn't make eye contact with [him," James self-deprecatingly said, "Can we check the facts on this one? If there was ever.
James seemed to directly refute a similar tabloid account during a 2017 visit to The Tonight Show.