Paul Blart: Mall Cop Review

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Release Date: 19th March 2009 - Australia

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures (presents)

Relativity Media (in association with)

Happy Madison Productions

Hey Eddie

Distribution

Sony Pictures Australia

Genre: Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 91 minutes

Budget: $26,000,000

Box Office Gross: $183,348,429 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary
All his life, mild-mannered Paul Blart has dreamed of becoming a state trooper but is a security officer in a local mall in New Jersey. When a gang of crooks invaded the mall and took some hostages, it's up to Paul Blart to rescue them and defend the place from intruders, as he must go from being a mall cop to an actual cop!

Cast

Kevin James - Paul Blart

Keri 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
Mike Vallely - Rudolph
Jason Ellis - Prancer
Jason Packham - Comet
Rick Thorne - Cupid
Victor Lopez - Donner
Natascha Hopkins - Vixen
Mookie Barker - Mr. Ferguson
Dylan Clark Marshall - Jason
Bernie McInerney - Old Man on Scooter
Gary Valentine - Karaoke Singer

Crew

Director - Steve Carr
Writer - Nick Bakay
Writer/Producer - Kevin James
Executive Producer - Jeff Sussman
Producers - Todd Garner,

Jack Giarraputo and Adam Sandler

Producer/2nd Unit Director - Barry Bernardi
Production Designer - Perry Andelin Blake
Art Director - Alan Au

Set Decorator - Tracey Doyle
Costume Designer - Ellen Lutter
Director of Photography - Russ T. Alsobrook

"A" Camera Operator - Casey Hotchkiss

Location Manager - Charles Harrington

Stunt Coordinator - Chris O'Hara
Special Effects Coordinator - Ray Bivins

Visual Effects Supervisor: Zoic Studios -

Patti Gannon
Editor - Jeff Freeman

1st Assistant Editor - Jason Gourson

Supervising Sound Editors -

Michael J. Benavente and Elmo Weber

Supervising Sound Mixers - Deb Adair

and William Freesh
Music - Waddy Wachtel

Music Supervisor - Michael Dilbeck

Review

In light of COVID-19, the pandemic is happening across the world. I was so disappointed that several new movies' release dates got postponed and all the cinemas were temporarily closed. This fear of a pandemic was so widespread that it caused everyone to stay home and begin social distancing. Fortunately, it didn't stop me from continuing to review movies. One of the films I did watch while being self-isolated was PAUL BLART: MALL COP.

I was supposed to review this comedy before 2020, but I started doing it anyway. The film has some great laughs, but the jokes are hit-or-miss, and the storyline is predictable. It feels like a stale, lighthearted parody of Die Hard that's missing the fun and gratuitous violence. I liked the moment when Paul got drunk and then made a fool out of himself. Kevin James was not a bad comedian, though he had a knack for playing overweight characters. James' acting was decent. It doesn't save the movie from its shortcomings.

PAUL BLART: MALL COP is not one of my favourite comedies. And it was an average movie at best. I was surprised that the film did have a sequel, which is improbable because there is no way it could prove better than the original.

Star rating: (5/10) Average

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