Mall Cop
Encyclopedia
Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a 2009 crime comedy film written by and starring Kevin James as the title character and directed by Steve Carr
Steve Carr
Steve Carr is an American film director and producer of several movies, mostly of the comedy and family genre.-Biography:Carr will direct the film adaption of the Rumpus Entertainment comic Meet the Haunteds.-As a director:* Next Friday...

. The film was released on January 16, 2009 by Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

.

Plot

Paul Blart (Kevin James) is a mild-mannered, occasionally square, overweight security officer who works at patrol in the West Orange Pavilion Mall in West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange, New Jersey
West Orange is a township in central Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 46,207...

. He lives with his elderly mother Margaret (Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....

) and daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez
Raini Rodriguez
Raini Alena Rodriguez is an American actress, best known for playing Maya Blart in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. She also appeared in an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, as Betsy, and on the new Disney XD show I'm In The Band as Annoying Arlene...

), and dreams of being able to join the New Jersey State Police
New Jersey State Police
The New Jersey State Police is the state police force for the state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction when requested by the Governor, designated by Troop Sectors.-History:...

, but he always fails his entrance test due to his hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia or hypoglycæmia is the medical term for a state produced by a lower than normal level of blood glucose. The term literally means "under-sweet blood"...

. While on patrol at work riding his Segway PT
Segway PT
The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing transportation machine invented by Dean Kamen. It is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire, USA. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" while "PT" denotes personal transporter....

, Blart notices a new wig kiosk and its vendor, Amy Anderson (Jayma Mays
Jayma Mays
Jayma Suzette Mays is an American television and film actress, and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty and on Heroes as characters named Charlie.- Life and career :Mays was born Jamia Suzette...

) and is instantly attracted to her. Back at base, Blart has to take the new guy, Veck Simms (Keir O'Donnell
Keir O'Donnell
Keir O'Donnell is an Australian actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop...

), out on a patrol to train him. At the end of his shift, Blart becomes acquainted with Amy and escorts her to her yellow 1966 Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...

 convertible. Amy invites Blart to join her, Veck, and the rest of his friends at American Joe's, and Blart accepts and attends the event. At the event, however, Blart gets extremely drunk after drinking too much margarita during his nacho eating contest with Leon (Jamal Mixon
Jamal Mixon
Jamal Mixon is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ernie Klump, Jr. in the film The Nutty Professor. He is the younger brother of actor Jerod Mixon....

) and crashes the stage that the band is playing on, culminating with him falling through one of the mall's windows.

On Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...

, Blart feels as though he embarrassed Amy and that she doesn't like him anymore and Maya tries to cheer him up. On Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...

 at the shopping mall, Amy, Stuart (Stephen Rannazzisi
Stephen Rannazzisi
Stephen Rannazzisi is an American actor who has appeared in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and currently is featured in the FX television show The League and on the NBC show "Love Bites".He hails from Smithtown, New York, on Long Island....

), and other of Blart's colleagues are in the bank to cash their paychecks. While a gang of criminals (in disguise as Santa's Little Helpers) suddenly break through the service entrance and take over the mall, Blart is distracted by playing Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

in the arcade zone. The criminals clear the mall, placing motion sensors along every entrance and exit doors, and take Amy, Stuart, Leon, and other of Blart's colleagues hostage in the bank. Veck is revealed to be a double agent and the ringleader of the hijackers, and plans to use the credit card codes from all the stores in the mall to steal $30 million and later fly to the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

, taking the hostages with him. As Blart leaves the arcade, he notices that the mall has been taken over and calls the police who later show up outside the front entrance of the mall. Sergeant Howard (Adam Ferrara
Adam Ferrara
Adam Ferrara is an American actor and comedian who is currently playing the role of Chief "Needles" Nelson on the critically acclaimed FX series Rescue Me and is also a co-host on the U.S. version of Top Gear...

) instructs Blart to leave the mall immediately, but when Blart sees Amy's car in the parking lot, he realizes that he must rescue Amy and everyone else. The SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...

 team soon arrives and Commander James Kent (Bobby Cannavale
Bobby Cannavale
Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...

), who bullied Blart in high school, takes control of the situation. Blart is vastly outnumbered and physically outclassed, but fights against the gang members through improvised measures. Maya shows up to bring Blart his dinner, but Veck's henchmen intercept her and take her hostage as well. After Blart works his way through all of Veck's underlings, he attempts to extract the hostages by pulling them up into an airvent via the rope, but fails after Leon cannot fit and when Veck enters the room, Blart is captured. Veck demands to have the credit card codes and Blart is forced to fling him the phone that contains the codes. Veck escapes with the codes and holds Amy and Maya at gunpoint.

Blart steals the mall's display minivan and pursue Veck to the airport, where Veck attempts to escape in a Cessna Citation III
Cessna Citation III
|-See also:-External links:*...

 business jet along with Amy and Maya. After a brief fight, Blart cuffs Veck, but Kent pulls his gun on Blart, revealing himself as a mole in the SWAT team and that he was working with Veck the whole time. Kent demands Blart to give him the phone containing the codes, but Blart smashes it on the ground. Before Kent can kill Blart, Chief Brooks (Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety
Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...

) shot Kent in his arm; the police reveal themselves and finally arrest Kent and rescue Amy and Maya. The next day, Maya is proud of Blart and he gives Amy a birthday card who in turn kisses him. Sergeant Howard offers Blart his job as a State Trooper, but Blart decides that his place is protecting the people at the mall with Amy and the rest of his friends. During the closing credits, bonus scenes finds Blart and Amy getting married in the mall along with Blart's friends and family, riding Segways.

Cast

  • Kevin James as Paul Blart, a security officer. When the mall is hijacked, he must utilize his skills and innate courage to save the day.
  • Keir O'Donnell
    Keir O'Donnell
    Keir O'Donnell is an Australian actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop...

     as Veck Simms, the main antagonist. He is initially a washed-up security officer in training, but is revealed to be a sarcastic, intelligent bank robber who leads his own gang of robbers.
  • Jayma Mays
    Jayma Mays
    Jayma Suzette Mays is an American television and film actress, and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty and on Heroes as characters named Charlie.- Life and career :Mays was born Jamia Suzette...

     as Amy Anderson, Paul's love interest. She owns a kiosk and sells hair extensions.
  • Shirley Knight
    Shirley Knight
    Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....

     as Margaret Blart, Paul's mother.
  • Raini Rodriguez
    Raini Rodriguez
    Raini Alena Rodriguez is an American actress, best known for playing Maya Blart in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. She also appeared in an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, as Betsy, and on the new Disney XD show I'm In The Band as Annoying Arlene...

     as Maya Blart, Paul's daughter.
  • Stephen Rannazzisi
    Stephen Rannazzisi
    Stephen Rannazzisi is an American actor who has appeared in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and currently is featured in the FX television show The League and on the NBC show "Love Bites".He hails from Smithtown, New York, on Long Island....

     as Stuart. He acts like a jerk towards Paul, but he turns out to be a coward.
  • Peter Gerety
    Peter Gerety
    Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...

     as Chief Brooks, Paul's superior.
  • Adam Ferrara
    Adam Ferrara
    Adam Ferrara is an American actor and comedian who is currently playing the role of Chief "Needles" Nelson on the critically acclaimed FX series Rescue Me and is also a co-host on the U.S. version of Top Gear...

     as Sergeant Howard, the hostage negotiator.
  • Bobby Cannavale
    Bobby Cannavale
    Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...

     as Commander James Kent, a corrupt SWAT & secondary antagonist operative who really works with Veck.
  • Adhir Kalyan
    Adhir Kalyan
    Adhir Kalyan is a South African actor noted for his role in the CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement.-Early years:Adhir was born in Durban, South Africa to an Indian South African family...

     as Pahud, an egocentric teenager whom Paul befriends via cell phone.
  • Erick Avari
    Erick Avari
    Erick Avari is an Indian American television, film and theater actor known for his roles in various science-fiction serial productions.-Early life:...

     as Vijay, an aging man who sells cell phones.
  • Jamal Mixon
    Jamal Mixon
    Jamal Mixon is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ernie Klump, Jr. in the film The Nutty Professor. He is the younger brother of actor Jerod Mixon....

     as Leon, a kid at a bar that competes with Paul eating nachos and peppers.
  • Allen Covert
    Allen Covert
    Allen Stephen Covert is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Adam Sandler.-Personal life:...

     as Jerky Security Guy
  • Bas Rutten
    Bas Rutten
    Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten is a retired Dutch mixed martial artist, Karate and Taekwondo blackbelt, and kickboxer. He was a UFC Heavyweight Champion, a three time King of Pancrase world champion, and finished his career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak...

     as Drill Instructor
  • Jason Ellis
    Jason Ellis
    Jason Ellis is an Australian professional skateboarder, mixed martial artist, radio host, and actor. Ellis hosts The Jason Ellis Show weekdays on Sirius XM Radio channel Faction...

     as Prancer
  • Natascha Hopkins as Vixen
  • Mike Escamilla as Blitzen
  • Rick Thorne
    Rick Thorne
    Rick Thorne in Kansas City, Missouri, USA , is a professional BMX rider for Famous Stars and Straps, as well as an actor/TV and radio host and a musician. He began riding at age 12 and entered his first competition at age 15...

     as Cupid
  • Mike Vallely
    Mike Vallely
    Mike Vallely , also known as Mike V, is a professional skateboarder. Mike is also a musician, actor, television personality, stuntman, professional wrestler and FHL hockey player.-Early life:...

     as Rudolph
  • Gary Valentine
    Gary Valentine
    Gary Valentine is an American actor and comedian. He is the older brother of actor Kevin James.-Career:Gary was featured in the movie Comedian, and appeared as Doug Heffernan's cousin Danny on the television show The King of Queens. He's featured in the film Velocity Rules...

     as Karaoke Singer
  • Victor T. Lopez as Donner
  • Jackie Sandler as Victoria's Secret Sales Associate

Production


The film began shooting in late February 2008 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Principal shooting took place at the Burlington Mall
Burlington Mall (Massachusetts)
The Burlington Mall is a large, two story, indoor shopping mall located off Route 3 and Route 128 in Burlington, Massachusetts. The mall is one of many shopping venues in the Middlesex County area, including Billerica Mall, Acton Plaza, and Middlesex Commons. The Burlington Mall has a gross...

 in Burlington, Massachusetts
Burlington, Massachusetts
Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,498 at the 2010 census.- History :It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, however this has never been confirmed....

 after being denied a permit from Willowbrook Mall
Willowbrook Mall (Wayne, New Jersey)
Willowbrook Mall is a two-level, major shopping center located in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. It is near the intersection of U.S. Route 46, Route 23 and Interstate 80. The mall opened in 1969 and was expanded or renovated in 1970, 1988, and 2006...

 in Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, located less than from midtown Manhattan. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 54,069....

. From late February until mid-April, the mall and its stores were decorated with Christmas decorations, and there was a large prop ball-pit in the main foyer of the mall near the Sears branch, and a Santa's Village at the opposite end near the Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

 branch in the same place that the mall usually puts its own Santa's Village. Interior filming took place mostly at night.

Critical reception

The film received mostly negative reviews from movie critics, although it was a box office success. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

gives the film a "Rotten" rating of 33%, based on 111 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, gives the movie a similarly low approval rating of 39 out of 100, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews", based on 24 reviews from mainstream critics. Though most critics panned the film, one notable exception was Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 of the Chicago Sun Times.

Box office

Paul Blart: Mall Cop became a surprise hit at the box office. The film ranked number one at the domestic box office with $9,791,368 from 3,144 theaters for an opening day average of $3,105. During the film's entire three day opening weekend, the film remained at number one, grossing a total of $31,832,636, with a per screen average of $10,125, outgrossing its $26 million budget. It grossed $39,234,238 over the entire four day MLK weekend, for a four day average of $12,479. The film was the second best opening of all-time for the MLK weekend, behind 2008's Cloverfield
Cloverfield
Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...

. The film stayed at number one in its second weekend, grossing another $21,623,182, dropping just 32%, and boosting the ten day income to $64,923,380. In its third weekend it dropped to second place with $13,872,751, a 36% decline from the last weekend, for an average of $4,327 from 3,206 theaters, bringing the seventeen day gross to $83,247,655. In its fourth weekend, it dropped to fifth place with $10,884,825, a drop of 22% from the last weekend, for an average of $3,435 from 3,169 theaters, and bringing the 24-day tally to $96,886,687. In its fifth weekend (President's Day weekend), it dropped to sixth place, making another $10,983,319 over the three day span, actually increasing 1%, for an average of $3,704 from 2,965 theaters, and bringing the 31-day total to $109,787,819, having broken the $100 million mark on Friday February 13. Over the four day President's Day weekend, it made $13,574,027 for an average of $4,578, and bringing the 32-day cume
Cume
In the practice of measuring the size of US commercial broadcasting and newspaper audiences, cume, short for "cumulative audience," is a measure of the total number of unique consumers over a specified period....

 to $112,388,524. The film closed on Monday, May 25, 2009, with a final domestic gross of $146,336,178 (the equivalent of about 20.4 million tickets with 2009's $7.18 ticket price), with the three day opening weekend making up 21.75% of the total gross (26.81% for the four day opening weekend). The film has also so far made $36,625,591 internationally, bringing the total worldwide gross to $183,293,131, against a modest $20 million budget.

Home media

Paul Blart: Mall Cop was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, Blu-Ray, and UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...

 on May 19, 2009. The DVD sold 1,817,747 copies, making US $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

29,411,146 for the week of May 24, 2009, having only been out for six days, and it ranked number one for DVD sales that week as well. Furthermore, for the week of May 31, 2009, it again made number one on the US DVD Charts as it sold an additional 553,681 copies and making US $9,921,964 for a total of 2,834,826 units sold with earnings of US $46,676,902 as of November 1, 2009. Combined with results from the Box Office and total DVD sales as of November 1, 2009, Paul Blart: Mall Cop has made a total of US $227,126,523.
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