Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)

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

Director:

Steve Carr

Writers:

Kevin James, Nick Bakay

Stars:

Kevin James, Keir O'Donnell, Jayma Mays

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin James	...	Paul Blart
Keir O'Donnell	...	Veck Simms
Jayma Mays	...	Amy
Raini Rodriguez	...	Maya
Shirley Knight	...	Mom
Stephen Rannazzisi	...	Stuart
Peter Gerety	...	Chief Brooks
Bobby Cannavale	...	Cmdr. James 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

Storyline

Paul Blart is a mild-mannered man who works as a security guard in a New Jersey mall. For years, he has applied to become a cop, but he always fails the physical exam because he has hypogmycemia and tends to pass out when his blood sugar is low. One day, a gang of organized criminals put the mall under siege and take hostages. Blart becomes trapped inside, and because of his sense of duty, refuses to leave. He thus becomes the police department's eyes on the inside and attempts to stop the criminals on his own.

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Plot Keywords:

mall cop | mall | shopping mall | fat woman | tattoo | 

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Taglines:

Now, Help Is On The Way. Until Then, There's Paul Blart.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Sony

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mall Cop

Filming Locations:

Hanscom Field Airport, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$31,832,636, 18 January 2009, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$20,819,129, 17 July 2015

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$183,293,131, 25 May 2009

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Happy Madison Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The road where Blart chases Veck in the minivan towards "McGuire Airfield" (apparently corresponding to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey), is actually the road toward Hanscom Airfield, adjacent to Hanscom Air Force Base, in Massachusetts.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the movie at the New Jersey police academy, Paul Blart has a mustache. In that academy, facial hair on all recruits is not permitted.

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Quotes

Veck Sims: It's like my mother always said, if you want something done right, waste them yourself. I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

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Crazy Credits

Two additional scenes play during the closing credits.

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Alternate Versions

The film was originally shown to the UK censors, the BBFC, in an unfinished version. The BBFC advised the company that the film was likely to receive a '12A' classification but that the requested 'PG' certificate could be achieved by making changes in two scenes. In particular, the BBFC suggested that the lid of a sun bed slammed onto a character several times be reduced; and that an extended fight sequence also be reduced to remove some of the strongest blows. In this scene specifically, it was suggested that a blow to the face with a skateboard and dialogue which introduces and emphasises a headbutt be removed. When the finished version of the film was submitted for formal classification, these reductions had been made and the film was classified 'PG'.

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Connections

Referenced in Community: Investigative Journalism (2010)

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Soundtracks

Caribbean Sea
Written by John Costello and David Hilker
Performed by John Costello
Courtesy of Wild Whirled Music

User Reviews

Isn't there room in this world anymore for a big,,affable lug?

This movie is getting a surprising amount of hate and I don't know why. There is very little in the way of violence, even less in the way of sex and even the gross-out jokes are kept way below what is usually the minimum level for comedies lately. The bad guys get around the mall with mountain bikes, skate boards and by utilizing some impressive parkour moves. Clearly this movie was meant for the PG crowd and in that it succeeds. It's a nice clean family comedy that everyone can attend and enjoy. There were lots of families in the theater when I saw this movie and they all seemed to have a pretty good time. They laughed and giggled and there was very little of the bored chatter you hear sometimes at kids/family movies.

I was thinking a little about the John Candy movie Summer Rental after I saw this. Candy played a few different roles in films before he did Summer Rental but that movie is where you see the classic John Candy affable lug character that kind of served as a template for most of his following roles. His characters were usually some variation of that, he did it well and people loved it. Kevin James has a similar likable quality and I'm hoping that maybe he picks up the Easy Going mantle where John Candy left it.

To paraphrase Paul Blart himself, "Don't write this movie off." Like I said, there were plenty of scenes that had both kids and adults laughing together. Isn't it worth at least the price of a matinée ticket to laugh for a while with your kids?