Quick Movie Review: Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015)

As a whole this film fails at reaching the very low mark of its predecessor in almost every way possible. This Die Hard-inspired comedy "franchise" has now just added a very pointless sequel.

Taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 stars Kevin James as Paul--a bumbling mall cop who takes his job way too seriously. Now he's in Vegas for a security convention where he must stop a heist of the casino.

The entire film takes place within the confines of the Wynn Resort and Casino. There is no galavanting around the strip or hopping from casino to casino--so the should-be glamorous Vegas element is very glamourless.

As flippant as the first film is, this one adds insensitivity to the equation. The movie starts out by picking up where we left Blart last in his life--when he gets married. But we find out that his wife leaves him after 6 days. This is a character we really grow to like in the previous film and love the fact that she seems to adore Paul regardless of his clumsy ways. And then Paul's mom--whom he lives with--dies by getting run over by a milk truck. This is all supposed to be funny, but instead it's a jarring beginning for the few fans of the first film.

Overall, it's much of the same criticisms from the its predecessor, except more. There are maybe 3 solid laughs in the whole movie--but the rest of the jokes fall flat and are yawn-worthy. However, those 3 laughs may be bigger than the biggest laughs from the first film. Although in the first film there were way more of them. In this one, the highlight may be the bird-attack scene--which is played off to its brightest potential and gets the biggest laugh. One of Paul's cohorts is a security guard named Khan (Shelly Desai) who had most of the other laughs, but was grossly underutilized in this movie.

At least, in the end, there is a redeeming value to all of this. But then again, we could've just watched the first film twice.

Twizard Rating: 59

Quick Movie Review: Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)

We've seen this movie plenty of times before, but somehow it doesn't seem as bad as the others. It's harmless and aims simply to make us laugh. A big issue may be that it's not quite a family film, yet it's nowhere near the level of an adult comedy. And with that limbo area covered, many folks try and make sense of it, but they can't. They have to just boil it down to the fact that it's a harmless movie that has been made--albeit maybe 10 to 15 years too late--and it exists.

Paul Blart is a bumbling mall cop who takes his job way too seriously while also trying to win over the woman of his dreams.

While James is funny, the script is terrible in the strictest sense. There are pretty much no jokes. All the humor comes from our lead's goofy responses to different scenarios or his ridiculously clumsy actions. Some may not find this type of humor funny in the slightest, but I have a soft spot for slapstick.

The film doesn't dumb itself down too much, but when it does it's painful. For instance, in one scene, Blart is held at gunpoint and relies on flicking a drop of hot sauce 15 feet into the bad guy's eye, but then once it hits the guy, our protagonist fails to capitalize on his success by taking down the perpetrator. Blart then jokes about how he doesn't follow up--which is funny, but also a cheap way for the filmmakers to extend the plot, as the antagonist gets away with two victims.

The premise is stretched thin, but the movie never seems to get too boring for the more easily entertained.

But it helps that we like the main character. He's truly a great guy to root for and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. We just really want him to win.

It's predictable, cliche, and ridiculous, but Paul Blart: Mall Cop can be a pretty decent watch with a group of friends.

Twizard Rating: 74