I was introduced to Paul Blart: Mall Cop by my older brother when he got it on DVD in 2012 or 2011 (don't remember exactly when). I'm quite amazed that this movie came out during my final year of preschool. And I'm gonna be honest, I've always enjoyed it, but it definitely doesn't hold up in places.
Set in West Orange, New Jersey around the holidays of 2009, Mall Cop focuses on Paul Blart (played by Kevin James), a middle-aged single man who lives with his mother Margaret (Shirley Knight) and teenage daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez). Paul dreams of becoming a state trooper and has tried out several times, but his hypoglycemia constantly holds him back. In the meantime, he works as a security officer at the local West Orange Pavilion Mall, a job that he's held for a decade, and takes great pride in, though his colleagues and customers couldn't care less. On Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, Paul seizes the chance to shine when seven hooligans, led by Veck Simms (Kier O'Donnell), who has been posing as a security trainee, invade and shut down the mall, and take hostages inside the bank, including Maya and Amy (Jayma Mays), a weave and wig saleslady who Paul has become infatuated with recently. Determined to protect his cherished mall and save his loved ones, Paul mounts his trusty Segway and revs into action to stop Veck.
The acting in this movie, while nothing spectacular, is good enough. Kevin James brings his A game to the role of Paul. Raini Rodriguez is fine as Maya. Jayma Mays is sweet and kind as Amy. Shirley Knight is good as Margaret, even if she has only two scenes. Although, Kier O'Donnell does fall a little short as Veck. Everybody else isn't too bad.
The writing is a little more hit-or-miss. Mall Cop is definitely packed with some really exciting action, especially all the scenes of Paul taking out Veck's thugs. There's also some really great comedy in here that manages to make me laugh. Examples include Paul getting drunk at American Joe's ("I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!!!" *SMASH*), and his one-liner before using a scuba tank to take out one of Veck's thugs: "Hey, you. SCUBA-dooby-doo." HA! The movie is even heartwarming in places, especially the scene of Maya comforting a despondent Paul after he finds no online dating matches, and of course, the ending. But here's where the shortcomings arise. Some of the movie's comedy comes across as less funny and more cringeworthy. One key example is the scene of Paul getting in a physical tussle with an angry fat lady at Victoria's Secret. I'm not gonna lie, I hid from that when I was younger. While I've grown more tolerant of it, it's still cringeworthy, and it basically stops the whole movie dead. And the fact that it's only addressed by one passing reference just a little later in the movie just adds to how pointless it is. Another issue is how incredibly dated this movie is, because the mall is filled with stores that are no longer in business, namely KB Toys (appearing in a deleted scene, but only listed on the store lists that Veck gives his thugs in the finished film), which I loved to visit all the time as a kid before it went out of business (just around the time this movie was released), Sharper Image, where Paul grabs a camera from (which ended its retail stores before the movie was even released!), and Sears, which, as of today, only has a few stores that are still in business. It's especially harsh to see Lord & Taylor, now that thanks to COVID, that store saw its end just two years ago.
Mall Cop is also filmed quite nicely, but there are problems. Throughout the movie, the Massachusetts filming locations are all too detectable. As someone from Pennsylvania who's been to New Jersey millions of times over the years, I can tell that this movie wasn't filmed in New Jersey. And when calling Paul over a borrowed cellphone, his friend's daughter's ex-boyfriend Pahud (Adhir Kalyan) pulls up a cell-tracking map that shows the mall's located in Trenton, New Jersey, right near Cadwalader Park. West Orange is in northern Jersey, nowhere near the Delaware River. Added to which, the mall's inside constantly fluctuates between scenes (store front arrangements change, architecture changes, etc.). That's because the movie was filmed at two different Massachusetts malls: Burlington Mall in Burlington, and South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and I visited both these malls with my family during Spring Break back in 2018.
Okay, finally, music! Composer and record producer Waddy Wachtel's score for this movie is pretty darn good, I must say, especially his exhilarating main theme, and his music for the opening credits. It also sounds energetic and suspenseful when it needs to. And the movie chooses some great songs that fit well, especially "I Can't Hold Back" by Survivor. But that's not all; the end credits use "Think I'm In Love" by Eddie Money, and it works extremely well! Also, I'm not a particularly big fan of Barry Manilow, but his song, "Weekend in New England", is perfectly used for the aforementioned scene of Maya comforting Paul.
All things considered, Paul Blart: Mall Cop has flaws, some minor, some severe, it's dumb at times, and it's certainly dated, but, ultimately, I love it. In my opinion, I think it's Happy Madison's best effort. If you like to see movies that are centered around mall chases, watch this movie!
Set in West Orange, New Jersey around the holidays of 2009, Mall Cop focuses on Paul Blart (played by Kevin James), a middle-aged single man who lives with his mother Margaret (Shirley Knight) and teenage daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez). Paul dreams of becoming a state trooper and has tried out several times, but his hypoglycemia constantly holds him back. In the meantime, he works as a security officer at the local West Orange Pavilion Mall, a job that he's held for a decade, and takes great pride in, though his colleagues and customers couldn't care less. On Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, Paul seizes the chance to shine when seven hooligans, led by Veck Simms (Kier O'Donnell), who has been posing as a security trainee, invade and shut down the mall, and take hostages inside the bank, including Maya and Amy (Jayma Mays), a weave and wig saleslady who Paul has become infatuated with recently. Determined to protect his cherished mall and save his loved ones, Paul mounts his trusty Segway and revs into action to stop Veck.
The acting in this movie, while nothing spectacular, is good enough. Kevin James brings his A game to the role of Paul. Raini Rodriguez is fine as Maya. Jayma Mays is sweet and kind as Amy. Shirley Knight is good as Margaret, even if she has only two scenes. Although, Kier O'Donnell does fall a little short as Veck. Everybody else isn't too bad.
The writing is a little more hit-or-miss. Mall Cop is definitely packed with some really exciting action, especially all the scenes of Paul taking out Veck's thugs. There's also some really great comedy in here that manages to make me laugh. Examples include Paul getting drunk at American Joe's ("I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!!!" *SMASH*), and his one-liner before using a scuba tank to take out one of Veck's thugs: "Hey, you. SCUBA-dooby-doo." HA! The movie is even heartwarming in places, especially the scene of Maya comforting a despondent Paul after he finds no online dating matches, and of course, the ending. But here's where the shortcomings arise. Some of the movie's comedy comes across as less funny and more cringeworthy. One key example is the scene of Paul getting in a physical tussle with an angry fat lady at Victoria's Secret. I'm not gonna lie, I hid from that when I was younger. While I've grown more tolerant of it, it's still cringeworthy, and it basically stops the whole movie dead. And the fact that it's only addressed by one passing reference just a little later in the movie just adds to how pointless it is. Another issue is how incredibly dated this movie is, because the mall is filled with stores that are no longer in business, namely KB Toys (appearing in a deleted scene, but only listed on the store lists that Veck gives his thugs in the finished film), which I loved to visit all the time as a kid before it went out of business (just around the time this movie was released), Sharper Image, where Paul grabs a camera from (which ended its retail stores before the movie was even released!), and Sears, which, as of today, only has a few stores that are still in business. It's especially harsh to see Lord & Taylor, now that thanks to COVID, that store saw its end just two years ago.
Mall Cop is also filmed quite nicely, but there are problems. Throughout the movie, the Massachusetts filming locations are all too detectable. As someone from Pennsylvania who's been to New Jersey millions of times over the years, I can tell that this movie wasn't filmed in New Jersey. And when calling Paul over a borrowed cellphone, his friend's daughter's ex-boyfriend Pahud (Adhir Kalyan) pulls up a cell-tracking map that shows the mall's located in Trenton, New Jersey, right near Cadwalader Park. West Orange is in northern Jersey, nowhere near the Delaware River. Added to which, the mall's inside constantly fluctuates between scenes (store front arrangements change, architecture changes, etc.). That's because the movie was filmed at two different Massachusetts malls: Burlington Mall in Burlington, and South Shore Plaza in Braintree, and I visited both these malls with my family during Spring Break back in 2018.
Okay, finally, music! Composer and record producer Waddy Wachtel's score for this movie is pretty darn good, I must say, especially his exhilarating main theme, and his music for the opening credits. It also sounds energetic and suspenseful when it needs to. And the movie chooses some great songs that fit well, especially "I Can't Hold Back" by Survivor. But that's not all; the end credits use "Think I'm In Love" by Eddie Money, and it works extremely well! Also, I'm not a particularly big fan of Barry Manilow, but his song, "Weekend in New England", is perfectly used for the aforementioned scene of Maya comforting Paul.
All things considered, Paul Blart: Mall Cop has flaws, some minor, some severe, it's dumb at times, and it's certainly dated, but, ultimately, I love it. In my opinion, I think it's Happy Madison's best effort. If you like to see movies that are centered around mall chases, watch this movie!