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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Define "Blart"

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"Sometimes there's a [kind] of blockbuster whose grosses can't be predicted by even the wisest of box-office sages," writes Vulture's Lane Brown.

"For example, who could possibly have anticipated Paul Blart: Mall Cop's explosive $39 million opening weekend? Certainly not Sony Pictures, who admitted in yesterday's LA Times that they barely thought it'd make half that. And now, as their movie Segways speedily toward $100 million, it's finally helped give a catchy name to all films with outsize profits and similarly awfulsome premises: Blarts.

"How does one identify a Blart? Sometimes they feature the Rock as an NFL star who unexpectedly becomes the father of an 8-year old and must, for some reason, perform ballet (The Game Plan, $90 million domestic). Others star Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy as members of the same biker gang (Wild Hogs, $168 million). Did your movie earn $94 million with a cast that included George Lopez as the voice of a dog (Beverly Hills Chihuahua), or $217 million, thanks to a trailer that featured computer-generated rodents eating their own poo (Alvin and the Chipmunks)? Congratulations -- you Blarted!

"The only things Blarts usually share are family-friendliness, an inexplicably enormous gross, and a screenplay that seems like it was probably submitted on a dare (also, it helps if a participating actor publicly refers to it as a 'piece of shit.'"

If I may be so bold, a "Blart" is a film that has hit the jackpot with the lower end of the American middle-class gene pool. Simple.

Milestone<< previous | next >>Complacency is Cancer

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 31, 2009 at 4:09 PM

comment #1

moveable hype says ...

"Blart"...when a Greek girl had a big fat wedding.

Posted by moveable hype at January 31, 2009 4:24 PM

comment #2

renorambler says ...

I think I'd call Big Fat Greek...a sleeper that turned into a phenomenon. I'm not saying it was good, but it crossed over into our cultural conscious and became a touchstone for people. People still remember that film. The "Blarts" mentioned above seem utterly forgettable outside of their surprise box office success. Ten years from now we will (hopefully) have to strain our brains to recall "that movie about the mall cop?".

Posted by renorambler at January 31, 2009 4:43 PM

comment #3

bmcintire says ...

"Get off my Blart!"

Posted by bmcintire at January 31, 2009 4:55 PM

comment #4

MindlessObamaton says ...

If I may be so bold, a "Blart" is a film that has hit the jackpot with the lower end of the American middle-class gene pool. Simple.

Ah, knocking the supposed dimwits of the middle and lower classes. Can always count on Wells for my healthy, daily dose of bigotry. God bless you, Sir!!!

Posted by MindlessObamaton at January 31, 2009 6:41 PM

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

Actually, you gotta be impressed that a movie with a fat and middle-aged actor is a success again, given the shallowness of today's audiences.

Posted by D.Z. at January 31, 2009 7:51 PM

comment #6

rr3333 says ...

Its pretty obvious why this drek made money. The Adam Sandler, lowest common demonator audience that doesnt want to think. They just want to watch fat guys who fart for 90 minutes.

Posted by rr3333 at January 31, 2009 8:50 PM

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

renorambler, you completely missed the point. Staying power or quality has nothing to do with what's being talked about here.

Posted by BurmaShave at January 31, 2009 9:22 PM

comment #8

MovieBob says ...

So I'm assuming nobody SAW the movie, right? Cuz, the fact that it's actually pretty good for it's genre and budget might have something to do with it. MIGHT. It's no classic, but the main character is genuinely sympathetic - you WANT to see him beat these guys down, which gets surprisingly brutal - and it stays admirably far away from pop-culture referencing and smug "whatever"-ism for it's humor in favor of oldschool slapstick.

The fact that what amounts to a one-joke sketch expanded into a PG feature works at all is further testament to Kevin James very real comic chops, though since he already stole two whole movies out from under Will Smith and Adam Sandler one wonders if that really needed further proving. He has the makings of a John Candy (or Goodman - LOVE to see him work under the Coen boys come to think of it...) save that he hasn't yet hit on an Only The Lonely/Planes Trains level script yet.

Posted by MovieBob at January 31, 2009 9:42 PM

comment #9

PaulieBlartnuts says ...

I saw Paul Blart and it's a serious piece of shit. Kevin James is the next John Candy if John Candy's defining roles were in CANADIAN BACON or WAGON'S EAST. Hey watch the fat guy eat, now watch him fall down -- it's hilarious when the obese have physical mishaps!! Check it out he's riding a friggin segway, that is crazy. Although I have to say I'm looking forward to the inevitable spin off where Rob Schneider goes undercover as a female mall security guard in PAULINA BLART: THE SEARCH FOR MORE MONEY...

Posted by PaulieBlartnuts at January 31, 2009 10:35 PM

comment #10

Rich S. says ...

To Blart: To act superior and condescending while secretly furious you didn't think of it first.

Posted by Rich S. at February 1, 2009 4:41 AM

comment #11

YRG says ...

I take back what I said about Ryan Reynolds. Based on the success of Mall Cop, I now believe The Proposal will blart and break Reynolds as a star.

Posted by YRG at February 1, 2009 5:45 AM

comment #12

YRG says ...

Another thought-- now that Bush is gone, we all need something stupid to laugh at.

Posted by YRG at February 1, 2009 5:49 AM

comment #13

Josh Massey says ...

It's a good-natured PG movie that apparently doesn't rely on scatological humor or below-the-belt humor. And it's going up against a bevy of serious-minded Oscar hopefuls, horror flicks, and bios of dead gangsta rappers. The weather is cold, and families want to go to movies.

Where's the mystery here?

Posted by Josh Massey at February 1, 2009 6:30 AM

comment #14

tfresca says ...

Ok, so we have a guy who was on a hit show for 6 or 7 years. Both movies he was in, co staring with bigger stars, were huge hits. So why wouldn't this movie be a hit. Times are hard people want to laugh. People should never be surprised that a comedy does well.

Posted by tfresca at February 1, 2009 6:35 AM

comment #15

renorambler says ...

No, Burma. Reread please. I think you missed the point. I was making the distinction between a "sleeper hit" and a "blart." I never said either had to be high quality.

Posted by renorambler at February 1, 2009 8:05 AM

comment #16

moviemaniac2002 says ...

This winter reminds me more and more of
winter 2007....when movie critics beat their
brains out in frustration while a parade of
atrocities racked up huge numbers..."Wild Hogs",
"Ghost Rider", "Norbit".....and it's deja vu all over again...with astounding weekend numbers for
"Taken"....no hollywood truth was ever spoken
better than by Wiiliam Goldman when he said...
"Nobody knows anything."
But here is one certainty, like death and taxes......brace yourselves for Blart II

Posted by moviemaniac2002 at February 1, 2009 8:45 AM

comment #17

George Prager says ...

"How can I hate Kevin James for I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and yet love him tenderly when abruptly he takes Jayma Mays in his arms in the last reel of Paul Blart: Mall Cop?"

-- Jean Luc Godard

Posted by George Prager at February 1, 2009 8:50 AM

comment #18

George Prager says ...

Next up for James? A remake of The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jabob.

Posted by George Prager at February 1, 2009 10:34 AM

comment #19

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

MovieBob = Bob Clark from beyond the grave

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at February 1, 2009 11:04 AM

comment #20

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

Why so surprised? This is the same nation that reveres a talentless, slutty, blonde whore who's famous for being rich and slutty *cough Paris cough* and is obsessed with the Shittybowl every year.

Of course this shit piece of crap movie is a success.

Posted by DeafBrownTrashPunk at February 1, 2009 11:40 AM

comment #21

Jonah says ...

"and is obsessed with the Shittybowl every year. "

Like other people obsess over the Oscars? The Superbowl is ten times the event of the Oscars. With the Superbowl, only the deserving get there and win.

Posted by Jonah at February 1, 2009 1:16 PM

comment #22

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comment #23

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comment #24