Paul Blart, Mall Cop, is the best kind of trash entertainment
Over the years, Steve Carr’s Mall Cop has exploded in popularity, gaining a dedicated cult following and fanbase. Despite barely pulling through at the box office, grossing $183 million against a $26 million dollar budget, and being reviled by critics, there is a group of fans that still genuinely enjoy this film. In some ways, Mall Cop can be considered a clever, unique comedy, despite it being widely declared as cinematic trash. And trash it is, but it’s the best kind of cinematic garbage, one that uses that fact to its advantage to deliver one of the wackiest, strangest, and campiest experiences ever put to screen.
Before we begin, I want to let you know that this is a very, VERY flawed movie, which I believe should be rated more out of enjoyment than actual quality. But the unique thing about the film which makes it special is how it uses all those flaws to its advantage.
The movie focuses on Paul Blart, a single father who finds a strong passion for security working as a mall cop at the West Haven Mall. However, things go south when a group of criminals shut down the mall, taking hostages. Blart gets locked inside, and he alone has to uphold his duty as a security guard and go to the rescue.
Mall Cop’s style of humor can entertain all audiences. Mainly relying on slapstick humor, it still manages to deliver very entertaining and clever jokes. It’s surprising how much genuinely good comedy is packed into a film that would suggest otherwise. The humor style is like a dialed-down version of Adam Sandler’s directing style, in the sense that it uses the same relentless stupidity of Adam Sandler’s movies while still exercising restraint, something Sandler never really did. This kind of comedic style either works or falls flat on its face.
In this case, the humor style works and is perfectly executed by the incredibly bizarre cast. Each character delivers a performance that makes the movie more and more bizarre, serving a purpose to shape the plot further and serve as a payoff. Case in point: in the film, Blart befriends Pahud, whose obsession with his ex has led him to GPS-track her phone, a phone which Blart possesses during the movie and uses to contain vital information to take down the band of criminals. Pahud’s stalking, though at the time seems like another pointless joke, has a payoff in the finale when the criminals steal the phone and try to escape, with Blart teaming up with Pahud to track them down using the GPS.
Another instance of the performances using ridiculousness is when a SWAT officer has a running gag of being so obsessed with the takeover of the mall, he’s actually willing to let the hostages die to get into the mall. In the final act, the film takes advantage of its wild unpredictability and makes him a twist villain just before the end of the climax, only for him to be stopped seconds later. Yes, this twist was pointless, had no reason to exist, and had no contribution to the storytelling. The gag did, however, contribute to the insanity of the film, throwing in a pointless twist to justify a character that didn’t serve any purpose from the start: a punchline to a joke nobody wanted to hear.
That’s the charm of Mall Cop: it has creative freedom, which it uses to cram in as much excitement as it can, purposeful or not, to keep the viewer enthralled. Instances like these show that there’s a formula and a stylistic way of making an extremely crazy film. (Chekhov’s jokes, people: You didn’t know they existed, but they do.)
The film isn’t complete insanity; it also does a perfect job of making audiences empathize with Blart, the protagonist. He isn’t depicted as nasty or mean-spirited; he’s genuinely a nice guy that you want to see succeed and come out on top. Blart is brave and optimistic, he’s kind to everyone he knows, and he takes his job seriously. Throughout the film, you see him constantly facing obstacles that stop him and make him feel belittled, such as his hypoglycemia, but that never stops him from persevering.
In the first act, the introduction to Blart’s character is done well by showing him facing new challenges and constantly failing, and giving him active character struggles before facing the central conflict. It is a perfect setup for when the film begins to ride its segway into the second act. When the mall closes down, Blart is finally presented with the opportunity to prove to the world that he can amount to more than they believe, which is a powerful, recurring theme throughout the movie. Kevin James, most famous for Adam Sandler’s cult films Pixels and Grown-Ups, finally has a chance to shine by making us empathize with Blart and root for him as you watch him fight his way to victory.
Mall Cop is an interesting case: it’s aware that it’s regarded as a bad film and doesn’t care; instead, it looks to have the most fun with the freedom of making a bad film. The film can be ridiculously campy, with its relentlessly wacky humor, yet is also surprisingly wholesome when it focuses on its protagonist. Mapp Cop deserves another chance, and in many ways, it already has received one, becoming a cult classic.
Rating: 67%
Paul Blart: Mall Cop is an American film directed by Steve Carr, written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay.