The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Paul Blart: Mall Cop arrives on BD with a bevy of bonus material beginning with a feature-length screen-specific audio commentary track with star Kevin James and producer Todd Garner. The two friends have a nice, easy rapport and offer some amusing and interesting insights into the project. James explains how he came up with the idea for the character and film (which he co-wrote) and the duo talks about how they shot the movie in an actual mall in Burlington, Massachusetts near Boston, often while stores were open and shoppers were milling around. Also of note is how James attempted to keep the movie PG-rated and how he wanted to include a lot of friends, family members and his favorite music in the film. It’s a breezy and enjoyable track.
The first of several featurettes on the disc is titled Kevin James: Not Your Average Mall Cop (4:58, 1080p) and offers a basic overview on the movie with its star/co-writer and other members of the cast and crew chiming in on what it was like to work with the former King of Queens. Action Sports Junkies (6:19, 1080p) is a fun look at the extreme sports athletes who play the members of the gang that attempts to take over the mall in the film. To that end, Stunts (10:31, 1080p) focuses on all of the unique stunt work — done by both the extreme sports team and Kevin James himself — in the film. The Mall (4:22, 1080p) is a brief throwaway in which cast and crew members discuss the popularity of malls and how they have become an iconic hangout for people. On Set With Mike “Rooftop” Escamilla (5:44, 1080p) follows one of the most daring and athletic of the extreme sports gang who does a combination of something called “free running” and “parkour” to jump around, through and over objects with seemingly little effort. Fun On Set (6:03, 1080p) is a neat behind-the-scenes look at the production and various bloopers and blunders with the cast. Mike V. vs. Mall Cop (2:35, 1080p) is a funny bit in which the skateboarding member of the extreme sports gang antagonizes Kevin James’ character by “tagging” the mall and the mall cop with spray paint. Mall Cop Response (1:46, 1080p) is a brief scene of Kevin James telling Mike V. about the error of his ways. Free Running vs. Parkour (3:10) is another look at the freestyle running and jumping skills of two of the gang members. Thoughts with Kevin James (2:14, 1080p) is another filler bit with the star rambling about nonsensical things, and finally, Sugar (1:53, 1080p) follows the aforementioned Mike “Rooftop” Escamilla racing through the mall to bring Kevin James sugar for his coffee. While some of this is cute, a little goes a long way and there seems to be a lot of needless redundancy.
Next is a collection of ten deleted scenes (12:30 aggregate, 1080p) including 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. Admittedly, a couple of these are funny and could have been included in the film, especially Lost Little Boy wherein Paul Blart attempts to help a kid who’s been separated from his mother.
In addition to the standard BD promo, the disc includes trailers for Click, The House Bunny, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Ghostbusters, 50 First Dates, Hitch, RV and Hancock. The BD also includes downloadable content for players that are BD-Live enabled, a feature called CineChat which allows viewers to send text messages to friends while watching the movie (something I’m not sure is all that necessary), and a digital copy DVD that allows you to transfer the movie onto portable media devices via a Windows-based PC, Apple’s video iPod, or Sony’s PSP.
The 91-minute film is divided into sixteen chapters.
Final Thoughts
Although Paul Blart: Mall Cop has its heart in the right place and is ultimately harmless, it doesn’t provide enough laughs to sustain a feature-length movie. Despite Kevin James’ considerable talents, it feels more like a half-hour sitcom plot that’s been stretched out over three episodes. Despite decent video and audio presentations and an ample if redundant collection of bonus material, this BD is only marginally recommended as a rental for fans of Kevin James and the really curious.
