Summaries

When a shopping mall is taken over by a gang of organized crooks, it's up to a mild-mannered security guard to save the day.

Paul Blart is a mild-mannered man who works as a security guard in a New Jersey mall. For years, he has applied to become a cop, but he always fails the physical exam because he has hypoglycemia and tends to pass out when his blood sugar is low. One day, a gang of organized criminals put the mall under siege and take hostages. Blart becomes trapped inside, and because of his sense of duty, refuses to leave. He thus becomes the police department's eyes on the inside and attempts to stop the criminals on his own.—J. Rieper

Paul Blart is a middle aged father and mall cop dealing with obesity. He hasn't dated since his failed marriage and for many times, Paul has failed becoming a police officer. But, in order to save Amy, his "crush", and the mall from a group of criminals looking to steal money, Paul Blart will do the impossible!

Living with his mother and his teenage daughter in New Jersey, the aspiring police officer, Paul Blart, accepts a job offer as a security guard at the West Orange Pavilion Mall to follow his dream. Enthusiastic while riding his motorised electric vehicle, the overzealous Paul patrols the mall's premises always willing to keep things in order; however, a bold bank heist on a Black Friday will put to the test his skills. Now, the lives of the hostages and the beautiful kiosk seller, Amy, are in danger. Will, for once, Paul put his rigorous police training to good use; overlook his weaknesses, and effectively defend his mall to save the day, and, maybe, get the girl?—Nick Riganas

A middle-aged male who works in security in a mall must step up and do everything that he can to stop a group of criminals from holding everyone hostage. The whole place is locked with no way in or out. He needs to get some help from a few strangers.—RECB3

Details

Keywords
  • father daughter relationship
  • one man army
  • die hard scenario
  • shopping mall
  • mall cop
Genres
  • Action
  • Comedy
  • Crime
  • Family
Release date Jan 15, 2009
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) PG
Countries of origin United States
Official sites Official site Sony
Language English
Filming locations Burlington Mall - 75 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA
Production companies Columbia Pictures Relativity Media Happy Madison Productions

Box office

Budget $26000000
Gross US & Canada $146336178
Opening weekend US & Canada $31832636
Gross worldwide $183348429

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 31m
Color Color
Sound mix DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

Paul Blart (Kevin James) is a mild-mannered, overweight man who takes his job as a security guard at the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall in West Orange, New Jersey very seriously. Blart lives with his elderly mother, Margaret (Shirley Knight) and daughter, Maya (Raini Rodriguez), and dreams of being able to join the New Jersey State Police, but he always fails his entrance test due to his hypoglycemia which causes him to collapse before finishing the physical fitness test.Paul's wife was an illegal immigrant. She married Paul to get the citizenship and then she left the family. Paul has been alone ever since. Maya signs him up for an online dating profile.

While on patrol at work daily, Blart notices a new wig kiosk and its vendor, Amy Anderson (Jayma Mays) and is instantly attracted to her. Blart takes safety very seriously and is constantly coming up with ideas on how to improve traffic flows inside the mall and to improve shopper experience. Paul has been working at the mall for 10 years.Back at base, Blart has to take his trainee, Veck Simms (Keir O'Donnell) out on patrol. The shoppers don't respect mall security guards as they do not have any punitive powers. A female customer even roughs up Paul, when he calls her fat, while she was creating a ruckus inside Victoria's Secret store, over a last piece of a push-up bra, that another customer wanted.

At the end of his shift, Blart becomes acquainted with Amy and escorts her to her yellow Ford Mustang convertible. Amy invites Blart to join her and others at a party in the mall later that evening, and Blart accepts and attends the event.Stuart (Stephen Rannazzisi) is a pen salesman who is making his move on Amy, and he calls Paul fat on his face to insult him. Stuart tells Paul to back off and says that he and Amy are basically together already. Stuart also says that Paul has almost no chance with Amy given that he is a security guard.

Things initially go well, but when Blart participates in a nacho-eating contest with his friend Leon (Jamal Mixon), the jalapeno peppers are too spicy for him and he chugs two glasses of margarita, mistaking it for lemonade. He gets drunk (as he usually doesn't drink as much) and makes a wild exit by falling through a window.

On Thanksgiving, Blart feels as though he embarrassed Amy and that she doesn't like him anymore. Maya attempts to cheer him up. Although Paul's online profile suggests that he has no perfect matches for him in their database.Vijay (Erick Avari) is the owner of a cellphone kiosk who loaned Paul a phone after punishing his daughter, Parisa.

On Black Friday at the mall, Amy and the rest of Blart's friends are in the bank to cash their paychecks. While the crowd is filing out, a gang of criminals suddenly break through the service entrance and take over the mall with Blart being distracted by playing Rock Band in the arcade zone. The criminals clear the entire mall, placing motion sensors along every entrance and exit doors, kidnap Amy and the rest of Blart's friends and hold them hostage inside the bank. Veck is revealed to be a double agent and the ringleader of the hijackers and plans to use the credit card codes from all the stores in the mall to steal $30 million and fly to the Cayman Islands, taking the hostages with him at gunpoint.

As Blart leaves the arcade, he notices that the entire mall has been taken over and calls the police, who later show up outside the front entrance of the mall. Sergeant Howard (Adam Ferrara) instructs Blart to leave the mall immediately, but when Blart unknowingly sees Amy's car in the parking lot, he realizes that Amy is still inside as a hostage and decides to rescue her and the rest of his friends. A state SWAT team soon arrives and Commander James Kent (Bobby Cannavale), a classmate and bully from Blart's high school, takes control of the situation. Though vastly outnumbered and physically outclassed, Blart fights against the gang members through improvised measures.He discovers credit card codes written in invisible ink on the burglars' arms, realizing that their plans go beyond robbing the bank. Pahud (Adhir Kalyan) Parisa's boyfriend in contact with Paul via her phone.

Maya shows up at the mall to bring Blart his dinner, but Veck's henchmen kidnap her and hold her hostage as well.After detaining all of Veck's underlings, Blart attempts to extract the hostages by pulling them up via the air-vent but fails after Leon cannot fit. Veck enters the room, and Blart is captured. Simms enters the room, capturing Blart and forcing him to give up the codes recorded on his cell phone. Simms flees, taking Amy and Maya with him.

As policemen swarm the entire mall to apprehend the criminals and rescue the hostages, Blart steals the mall's display minivan and joins Kent in pursuing Veck to the airport, where Veck attempts to escape in a Cessna Citation III business jet along with Amy and Maya. After a brief fight, Blart overpowers and handcuffs Veck. However, Kent pulls his gun on Blart, revealing himself as a mole in the SWAT team who had been working with Veck the whole time. Kent demands Blart to give him the phone containing the codes, but Blart refuses and smashes it on the ground. Before Kent can kill Blart, Chief Brooks (Peter Gerety), who had stayed at the mall with the other policemen throughout the standoff, arrives and shoots Kent in his arm; the police arrive at the airport, where Kent is arrested, and Amy and Maya rescued.

The next day, Sergeant Howard offers Blart his job with the New Jersey State Police, but Blart decides that his place is protecting the people at the mall with Amy and the rest of his friends. Blart and Amy get married in the mall and ride a Segway PT together.

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