It stars James as the titular character Paul Blart, with Jayma Mays, Keir O'Donnell, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Rannazzisi and Shirley Knight in supporting roles.

The film tells a story of Blart, a single dad and bumbling mall security guard, who finds himself in the middle of a heist and the only one in position to rescue hostages.

Blart patrols the mall on a Segway and begins training Veck Simms, who shows little interest in the job.

Things initially go well, but when Blart participates in a nacho-eating contest with his friend Leon, the jalapeño peppers prove too spicy for him and he chugs two glasses of margarita, mistaking it for lemonade.

Two days later on Black Friday, an organized gang of thugs disguised as Santa's Village employees begin a heist inside the mall.

He discovers credit card codes written in invisible ink on the burglars' arms, realizing that their plans go beyond robbing the bank.

Unaware of this, Maya shows up at the mall to bring Blart some food, but Simms' henchmen seize her and add her to the hostages.

Blart manages to subdue all of Simms' accomplices and attempts to rescue the hostages by pulling them up into the air vent.

Simms enters the room, capturing Blart and forcing him to give up the codes recorded on his cell phone.

As the SWAT team raids the mall, Blart borrows a display minivan with Kent, pursuing Simms to the airport, where he is attempting to escape to the Cayman Islands.

Blart and Amy are eventually married in the mall, where they exchange vows on a set of black and white Segways.

The website's critical consensus states "Paul Blart: Mall Cop has some laughs, but its plot is flimsy and lacking in any sustained comic momentum.

"[12] James Berardinelli was also unimpressed by the juvenile tone, but praised the character of Paul Blart and a refreshing change from Adam Sandler's typical films calling it "a passable choice for watching at home, when viewers tend to be less demanding.

Club gave the film a grade C−, calling it "a shamelessly sentimental comedy with a few crude gags thrown in arbitrarily" which "turns into a stale riff on Die Hard.

[18][19] Andy Fickman was hired to direct the sequel, while Kevin James co-wrote the script with Nick Bakay and returned to star in the leading role.