Starring: Kevin James, Raini Rodriguez, Eduardo Verástegui, Daniella Alonso
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 94 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2015
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‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2’ is an average excuse for family entertainment. Its star and writer Kevin James may try to do everything in his power to win some points onscreen, but the whole product is otherwise so coated with laziness that it just swallows up his commitment, leaving you with a life now 94 wasted minutes shorter and presumably some popcorn debris on your shirt.
Paul Blart (Kevin James), security guard at a local mall and safety enthusiast, has fallen on bad times – his love from the previous film left him after 6 days of marriage, and his mother has been killed in a hit and run by a milk truck. When he is invited to a Security Officers Trade Organisation convention in Vegas, this good news couldn’t have come at a better time. With his daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez) in tow, the Blarts head off to the Wynn Casino in Vegas.
Naturally, a plot is afoot before Blart arrives, with big-time crim Vincent (Neal McDonough, playing a cardboard cut-out villain) planning a heist of all the hotel’s fine art and artefacts. Meanwhile, Blart is finding out that the holiday isn’t all he had hoped – he isn’t chosen to be the convention’s keynote speaker, he comes into conflict with the hotel’s smoothly operated and vastly more impressive security team, and Maya gets an offer to study at UCLA on the other side of the continent. However, when Maya is entangled in Vincent’s plans, Blart will have to bust out all his skills to save his daughter and the day. Sigh…
As an actor, James has little ability to carry a film. He thrives on physical gags, throwing himself into obstacles with abandon to elicit laughs. He beats himself up so much you almost don’t want to say anything bad about his acting, but it can’t be ignored. He’s neither good at it, nor funny – a kiss of death for a ‘comedic actor’. The rest of the cast are your standard, bland family fare. The real villains of the piece are writers Nick Bakay and James (with his writing hat on this time), who go for cheap slapstick 99% of the time. If you enjoy laughing at people being hit (by horses, fists, Segways, birds, trucks – you name it) or the sight of big-boned people running, then this may be the film for you yet! Director Andy Fickman doesn’t help proceedings with his personality-free direction, just pointing a camera at whomever is falling over or being hit next.
The music from Rupert Gregson-Williams is a classic, fun, over-the-top action score and I would love it if I was convinced it was being ironic, but I’m worryingly not sure on that front. Elsewhere, the final ‘security guards vs. bad guys’ fist battle has some impressive fight choreography, which is a welcome reprieve from the frankly pretty boring remainder.
This is a film that we have likely seen roll into cinemas before – one which will be critically derided, not particularly liked by audiences, yet somehow walk away from the box office with enough cash from younger families to support a sequel. It happened with the first ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ film, and judging from my pretty full screening, history will repeat itself here. I will say upfront that it’s not worth seeing. However, I know that moviegoers pressed for family-friendly choices will likely attend anyway, just don’t say that I didn’t warn you.
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