Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)

Director:

Steve Carr

Writers (WGA):

Kevin James (written by) &
Nick Bakay (written by)

Release Date:

16 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Family

Tagline:

Safety never takes a holiday.

Plot:

When a shopping mall is overtaken by a gang of organized crooks, it's up to the a mild-mannered security guard to save the day.

Plot Keywords:

Mall | Security Guard | Cell Phone | Hostage | Shopping Mall

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Kevin James	...	Paul Blart
Keir O'Donnell	...	Veck Sims
Jayma Mays	...	Amy
Raini Rodriguez	...	Maya Blart
Shirley Knight	...	Mom
Stephen Rannazzisi	...	Stuart
Peter Gerety	...	Chief Brooks
Bobby Cannavale	...	Commander Kent
Adam Ferrara	...	Sergeant Howard
Jamal Mixon	...	Leon
Adhir Kalyan	...	Pahud
Erick Avari	...	Vijay
Gary Valentine	...	Karaoke Singer
Allen Covert	...	Jerky Security Guy
Mike Vallely	...	Rudolph

Also Known As:

Mall Cop (USA) (working title)
Untitled Kevin James Comedy (USA) (working title)
Héroe de centro comercial (Argentina) (DVD title) (Chile) (Mexico) (Peru) [es]
Шопо-коп (Russia) [ru]
Der Kaufhaus Cop (Germany) [de]
Heroe del centro comercial (Venezuela) [es]
Il superpoliziotto del supermercato (Italy) [it]
Kaubanduskeskuse kangelane (Estonia) [et]
O batsos tou mall (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Paul Blart - Der Kaufhaus Cop (Germany) (long title) [de]
Paul Blart - Flic du mall (Canada: French title) [fr]
Paul, mare politist la mall (Romania) [ro]
Segurança de Shopping (Brazil) (DVD title) [pt]
Snuten i varuhuset (Sweden) [sv]
Superpoli de centro comercial (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG for some violence, mild crude and suggestive humor, and language.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44266) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (original rating) | UK:PG | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Ireland:PG | South Korea:All | Mexico:A | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT

Filming Locations:

Burlington Mall - 75 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

During filming, the film crew would allow Kevin James's wife and two kids to go shopping around the Burlington Mall (film location in Massachusetts), while he would continue to finish filming his scenes.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Paul first talks to Amy, an attractive girl walks through the shot and past Paul. It cuts back to Amy, and then back to Paul, it shows the attractive girl walk past him again.

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Paul Blart: Nobody knows this mall better than I do.

Movie Connections:

References College (2008)

Soundtrack:

Turn Up the Music (The World Is Watching You)

mediocrity crystallized

this movie plays like a checklist of clichés. all the laughs derive from jokes rooted deeply in stereotypes, whether they be about fat people, foreigners, or... erm, fat people.

it does have a few things going for it - the cinematography is decent, certainly not B-movie quality (though I think it would have been funnier if it was), and the dialogue is not too terrible. But I must say some of the scenes go on way too long, as if trying to explain things to a three year old. Yes it is supposed to be a family film but I often felt my intelligence as an audience was being underestimated.

Speaking of family film, I guess the movie should be applauded for the length it goes to avoid screen violence. The strategy is to turn all the bad guys into these cartoon characters who spend more time performing skateboard acrobatics than actually, um, attacking our protagonist. Which makes them utterly un-scary. And unconvincing. But maybe they'll manage to scare a few kids, who knows.

I guess the biggest problem with the film is that it sort of contradicts its own message. It's trying to tell us that fat people can be heroic too, yet the majority of the jokes come at the expense of Paul Blart's fatness. Probably the funniest scene is when he gets attacked by a fat lady inside a Victoria's Secret.