PAUL BLART: MALL COP
US, 2009, 91 minutes, Colour.
Kevin James, Keir O' Donnell, Jayma Mays, Raini Rodriguez, Shirley Knight, Peter Gerety, Bobby Cannavale.
Directed by Steve Carr.
Who is Paul Blart? And how has be persuaded Americans to part with over $100,000,000 in a few weeks to come to see him? What is his appeal?
If one were to answer that Paul Blart is a short, weighty, bumbling mall security guard, hypoglycemic, who failed police academy training but who is terribly conscientious and works by the book, it would be true but would not answer the question. We get nearer an answer when we note that he is played by Kevin James the star of the popular TV show, The King of Queens, who has appeared in some films like Hitch with Will Smith and several Adam Sandler comedies. Here he is launching out on his own (in a film produced by Sandler's company) to test whether he can sustain a star role and entertain people. It looks as though he has succeeded.
One of Kevin James' advantages on screen, with his serious demeanour (though he does a pretty versatile drunk scene when he has imbibed unwittingly) is that he is basically very likeable and, as the film proceeds, is really a gentleman with more than a touch of sensitivity and sweetness. The female audience, like the heroine, Amy (Jayma Mays), will warm to him.
And the male audience? Yes. Anyone who really doesn't look like Brad Pitt or, from another Twilight generation, Robert Pattinson (that really being all of us) can identify with him in his hopes, his loneliness, his tentative courting, his doing a job which is down to earth (even if he overdoes the policing) – and his capacity for filling his emotional voids with food. But, he is a decent man.
Just when we might be wondering where this is going and whether we are going to spend ninety minutes at the mall, securing customer safety and training his dumb apprentice, or at home with Paul's mother and daughter, a Die Hard plot comes to the rescue and the mall is under siege (with a surprise leader). We knew that Bruce Willis could save the day (as he has done in many days and movies later) but, Paul Blart?
The screenplay, which has some good moments of humour (check the security boss and his notebook of hopefully cutting rispostes to the overbearing SWAT leader), is smart enough to know that credibility is strained if the hero overcomes armed and athletic opponents with a series of accidents. This time, Paul keeps telling himself to think and uses his wits, his rules and a range of mall equipment for sale to vanquish. Since we identify with him in his ordinariness, we can pat ourselves on the back to think that, maybe, we could do something like this if we found ourselves in such a situation. It's the dreams of the movies, but pleasant PG-rated, family friendly entertainment this time.
Many people will see it in a mall multiplex and should feel nicely at home. Kevin James has done a good job. He resumed it in the sequel in 2015.
1. A popular film, popular at the box office? Comic and entertaining?
2. Kevin James, his screen presence, his career? Lock, manner, communication?
3. At home, with his mother and daughter? Establishing him as a character? His trying to join the police, failing exams? His work, at the mall? Security, helping people? The later part of the film turning into a variation on Die Hard?
4. Locations, New Jersey, ordinariness, the moall, Amy and work? The details of life in the mall? The problems?
5. Paul and his offsider, Veck, seemingly awkward, learning, involved in the security work?
6. Amy, work, the shop, the attraction to Paul, the touch of the comic romance?
7. Slapstick comedy, pratfalls, the stunts?
8. Paul as a character, his size, image, behaviour, failures, eating, his medical situation? His relationship with his mother, care for his daughter?
9. The supporting characters, ordinary types, audiences identifying with them?
10. The police, the characters, Paul and his interactions?
11. The crisis, the men attacking, masks, the siege, Paul inside, with Amy and his daughter? His being able to inform the police from inside? The accidents, stumbling, winning at the end?
12. The revelation that his associate was behind the attack, the motivation, his crew?
13. All happy at the end, with Amy, with his daughter, with his mother? The award for his work? And the humorous sequences in the final credits?
