Paul Blart: Mall Cop



"Paul: Sir, I took a sworn oath to protect this mall and all inside it.

Police Trainer: What oath? We don't have an oath.

Paul: I... sorta made up my own. It's on a plaque in my room."

Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a light-hearted comedy released in 2009, starring Kevin James. The plot follows a portly, kindhearted security guard (the titular mall cop) who, despite the lack of authority of his position, takes his job seriously. After failing to realise his dream of becoming a law-enforcement officer due to his hypoglycemia, Paul instead becomes a well-known figure at The Mall and plans to retake the police entrance exam he once failed. That is, until a bunch of foolhardy terrorists make a bid to pull a heist while he's on duty. Big mistake...

Despite (or because of) the silly premise and PG rating, Your Mileage May Vary.

"Paul: Nobody wins with a headbutt."
 * Achilles Heel: Paul's medical condition means he has to have a constant intake of sugar ready, otherwise he becomes weakened and cannot function. In fact, if it weren't for his condition, he'd probably have passed the police entry exam at the beginning of the film.
 * Acrofatic: For a big fella, Blart sure as hell can bust a move when he needs to. In fact, it's shown early in the film that were it not for his hypoglycemia, he would have very easily outperformed all the other policemen taking the Entrance exam. (He passed out an inch from the finish line)
 * Action Survivor: Paul. Even the action he sets in motion, apparently.
 * Affectionate Parody: Of Die Hard.
 * Air Vent Passageway: The air-conditioning Paul climbs through which almost counts as a Absurdly Spacious Sewer, though to be fair, it is part of the mall system and would have to be pretty substantial to be effective.
 * Beneath Suspicion: The fresh-faced new security guard is the leader of the gang.
 * Binge Montage
 * Bond One-Liner: Blart cracks a couple of subtle ones.
 * Boston doubling: Much of the movie was filmed in Burlington, MA, about fifteen miles from Boston. (The mall there is one of the biggest in the area.)
 * Chekhov's Gun: When Blart mentions he's been working for ten years, which explains why he's so adept at finding his way around and handy with a Segway.
 * The GPS tracking on Vijay's daughters cellphone.
 * Aversion, sort of: one of the mall merchants gives Blart a bottle of hot sauce "to cheer him up." The observant viewer will expect him to use it later as a weapon against the bad guys. He tries, but it doesn't work.
 * To be fair, it DID work, he just failed to act properly on the occasion. Lampshaded by Paul Blart himself.
 * Citizenship Marriage: Used to explain the titular character's daughter's Missing Mom: she had married Blart only for the green card and abandoned him and her daughter as soon as she was born.
 * Cool Car: It's not a car. But the fact Kevin James can make riding a Segway look even remotely cool is something of a miracle.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As Paul himself discovers over the course of the movie, he's much more competent than he appears.
 * Embarrassing Tattoo: Paul has two.... that we know of.
 * Dance Party Ending
 * Die Hard On an X: It's Die Hard, but in a mall! With a husky guy!
 * It's Die Hard if Reginald VelJohnson's cop character had been trapped in the building instead of John McClane.
 * Dueling Movies: This and it's Darker and Edgier rival Observeand Report.
 * Face Heel Turn: about a third of the way through the movie. Amy is not impressed..
 * Good Costume Switch: Blart trades in his normal outfit for something closely related to a police officer's uniform to show how serious he is about thwarting the villians plans.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Veck tries a short one of these by finding out about Blart online.
 * Hard Head: Handled somewhat more realistically when Paul headbutts a Mook.


 * History Marches On: The Sharper Image had already closed down all its stores by the time Paul Blart hit theaters.
 * Hold My Glasses
 * Hostage for Macguffin: Played by Veck with Blart's daughter.
 * Human Shield: Paul has an unusual twist on this, using as a distraction.
 * Inherently Funny Words: You've gotta admit... Blart is just an amusing word, even out of context.
 * Insult Backfire: There are several, all played for laughs.
 * Kick the Dog: Paul accidentally runs over one that was chasing him on his way to work.
 * Le Parkour: Used quite unnecessarily by the villains during the mall robbery.
 * Special features on the DVD show that all the villains (save Veck), were played by Le Parkour experts or extreme sports people.
 * Loser Gets the Girl: The popular pen salesman and unpopular mall cop both try to win the girl. Guess who ends up with her?
 * Loser Protagonist
 * MacGuffin: The all-important "credit codes" that are used to unlock the wealth in the mall.
 * MacGyvering: Blart is surprisingly adept at using his environment to pick off the bad guys, one by one.
 * The Mall
 * The Man Behind the Man: The end of the movie reveals that Veck and his gang were actually working for.
 * Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: After being caught by the main criminal taking over the mall, Paul admits that the Big Bad is younger, stronger and smarter than he was. And that literally he was the man with the gun.
 * Papa Wolf
 * Playing Against Type: This was one of the first times Jayma Mays didn't play The Ditz.
 * Police Are Useless: They just stand there and wait for Blart to report in, and the SWAT team to arrive.
 * The police were threatened to stay out, or hostages would be harmed.
 * Also, the SWAT team never does anything but stay outside the mall until the end..
 * Puppy Dog Eyes: Amy personifies this trope with her big angelic peepers.
 * Race Against the Clock: As the codes needed to steal the store's credit change on a daily basis, there is a limit to how long the villians have to pull off their robbery.
 * Running Gag: Paul really doesn't drink
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: During his lecture at the end of movie, Veck tries to break Blart's resolve by pointing out his weaknesses, and the fact he isn't even armed.
 * Serious Business: Paul takes his job very seriously, to the point of making up his own oath and putting it on a plaque in his room.
 * Slapstick: A fair dose of the humour is good 'ol fashioned perils and pratfalls.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: The flash grenades used to the scare the police off, and later a whole front panel of the mall blowing up just as the SWAT team captain lampshades the fact he thinks Blart could never be a Badass.
 * Took a Level In Badass: About halfway through the movie, Blart suddenly finds strength he didn't know he had.
 * Totally Radical: Veck refering to Paul's rescue attempts as his chance to be the MVP.
 * Torture Always Works: All it takes is Veck shouting for one of the hostages to give up important information. Everyone else just looks at the hostage in disgust to which the hostage replies, "Wow, he's good, he's a pro."
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Paul and Amy at the end.
 * Voice of Dramatic: Paul's manner of speaking changes to a lower, more imposing tone as he takes down the bad guys.
 * Weather Dissonance: If I recall correctly, it's supposed to be Christmas but underneath all the lights and fake snow the Real Life mall's window displays are for summer. Maybe if they could've borrowed The Terminal's giant food court set...
 * It's actually stated to be Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving)
 * You and What Army: The head mall security guy asks this of the leader of the New Jersey SWAT Team. Three guesses how it works out...