Paul Blart: Mall Cop (www.the-usher.com)

"Safety never takes a holiday"

Paul Blart (James) has always dreamed of becoming a New Jersey State Trooper for most of his life but his hypoglycaemia means whenever he runs short on blood sugar he passes out which becomes always stops him from finishing the assault course. So instead of having his dream job, Paul is a shopping mall security guard where nothing ever happens. After the biggest shopping day of the year however, this all changes when armed criminals take over the mall and Paul is the only one who can take them on and save the hostages.

While he may be a huge star on TV, Kevin James’ has only even been a supporting actor on the big screen but that is about to change?

Making his name as Doug Hefferman in the hit TV comedy ‘King of Queens’, larger than life comedian Kevin James’ big screen career has consisted of supporting roles. With roles in ‘Hitch’ and ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry’ and popping up in many a Adam Sandler movie, he now gets the chance to show what he can do as a leading man but he could have picked a better vehicle than ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’.

The premise for ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ is a simple one. Paul is a Mall security guard who dreams of been a New Jersey State Trooper but while he can ace the entrance exams he always fails the physical element due to his hypoglycaemia making him pass out every time his blood sugar gets low. So he has to come to terms with the fact that he can only be a lowly security guard but he is going to be the best security guard that has ever done the job. When the mall is taken over by criminals however he gets the chance to show what he can do. This is basically ‘Die Hard’ in a mall, played for laughs but unfortunately the laughs are few and far between.

The saving grace of the movie is Kevin James himself. There is something about the portly comedic actor that you cannot help but like. He is a very personable actor, one whose characters you want to succeed and the same can be said for Paul Blart. He is a very likable character who you want to (but secretly know will) save the day. It is a shame that you can’t say the same about the rest of the cast. Keir O’Donnell is awful as bad guy Veck Sims, Jayma Mays can do better as Paul’s love interest Amy and Bobby Cannavale deserves a lot better.

‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ is a missed opportunity for Kevin James. While there is no denying that he is a talented and likeable comedic actor and it is him and him alone that makes the movie more watchable than it should have been, he needs to leaving the writing to someone else and work with some gifted comedy filmmakers to make him not just a hit in the US but the rest of the world.

PICTURE & SOUND

The Blu-Ray disc presents the movie in High Definition wide screen 1.78:1 up to 1080p, with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound.

BONUS FEATURES

Featurettes (45.28 mins/High Definition)
Entitled Kevin James: Not your average Mall Cop’, ‘Action Sports Junkies’, ‘Stunts’, ‘On set with Mike’, ‘Rooftop Escamilla’, ‘Fun on Set’, ‘Mike V vs. Mall Cop’, ‘Mall Cop response’ and ‘Free Running vs. Parkour’, these featurettes cover most aspects of the film’s production and show how Kevin James and the rest of the cast and crew had fun on set.

Deleted Scenes (12.30 mins/High Definition)
Entitled ‘Online Dating’, ‘Black ice for the PT’, ‘Lost Little Boy’, ‘It all makes sense now’, ‘What do we need the numbers for?’, ‘Brains and Brawn’, ‘Translate my text’, ‘Pahud and Paul’, ‘We are the Law’ and ‘Snowglobe’, these deleted scenes suffer from the lack of an introduction or commentary track to explain why they were removed.

Commentary with Kevin James and producer Todd Garner
The star and his producer provide a chatty and fun commentary for Paul Blart: Mall Cop. They talk passionately about the film, talking about how much Kevin did for the movie, with writing the screenplay to doing his own stunts. This is a decent commentary and one that fans of the films will enjoy listening to.

Trailer
A preview trailer for ‘Open Season 2’

Cinechat
A new function of BD-Live, which allows you and friends to instant message during the movie

BD Live
Place the Blu-Ray in an Internet enabled player or PS3 and connect to receive extra content for the film

OVERALL

The Blu-Ray treatment for ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ is one that fans should enjoy. The featurettes and the commentary are fun, showing that Kevin James is just as likeable off screen as he is on.

BLU-RAY

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2009