Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

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 | Shopping Mall | Parody | Police Officer

US Showtimes:

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Cast

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)

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

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

Gary Valentine is featured as the singer at the karaoke bar, a reference to his Comedy Central Presents special where he gets the audience clapping on beat to start the show and approaches the microphone, only to punchline it with, "Man, I wish I could sing. This would be the perfect time!"

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the beginning of the movie, what were supposed to be New Jersey State Police cars look nothing like the real ones.

Quotes:

[sees Leon hanging by a rope, being pulled up into the air ducts]
Veck Sims: I wish I had a bat. I would bust you open, see how much candy fell out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brüno (2009)

Soundtrack:

Think I'm in Love

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?