Review of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015) by Harry W — 14 Sep 2015

With Paul Blart: Mall Cop effectively getting worse with every year of age that passed me and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 being more critically panned than its predecessor, I felt like I needed to see just how low the film could sink.

To my surprise, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 was actually a significant improvement over its predecessor. That isn't necessarily the biggest piece of credibility due to the fact that Paul Blart: Mall Cop was simply dreadful.

The intro to Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is just dark. The titular character gets dumped by his wife six days into marriage, slapped by a child who won't hug him and then his mother is killed by a milk truck which is shown on screen. The humour is oddly dark for the mere intro to the film, and it doesn't precisely set the film up to be funny. If anything, I was laughing because the general idea of it all was just so stupid that I couldn't believe someone actually considered it a good idea. In actual fact, the level of ridiculousness in the film actually achieves humourous results because the entire thing is so damned stupid that the very idea of it actually being produced is able to create comedic results. Aside from the tedious character subplots, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 genuinely had a better story to it than its predecessor. Part of this is because Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 at least has better villains. The first one had a bunch of MTV stunt performers pretending to be criminals, but Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 attempts to be slightly more serious with the use of familiar yet more believable antagonists. The story is certainly far from ground breaking, but it at least puts more focus into delivering on its generic contract in terms of cheap gags and random sketches.

What Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 calls character building is actually just an extended period of generic plot points which are short on genuine dramatic strength, rarely funny and rather familiar. But since the film paces itself more energetically, it doesn't focus on this too much. The budget of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is a meager $4 million larger than its predecessor, yet the money is distributed more evenly this time around. Instead of the film relying too heavily on slow character building, the nature of everyone has already been established by the first film and this sequel just attempts to build off it. The budget is spent more on lively scenery and ridiculous stunts than anything, though the film manages to keep itself on a low budget the entire time. Admittedly, one of the negative results of this is the second-rate visual effects, but it is merely one of the flawed technical elements in a film which has a steady amount of colourful imagery. The change of setting is nice because the natural life of the hotel from all its glamourous lights to sparkling pools certainly lights up the screen, and it is all captured with nice cinematography.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is intended to be an action comedy like its predecessor, but due to a story that takes itself slightly more seriously than the significantly more childish nature of the first one, there is a greater use of action this time around. Spread out sensibly over the short 90 minute running time, the pace of the film is made better by a greater moderation between over the top stunt gags and other attempts at humour. Sometimes, the over the top energy of the film actually proves entertaining, and the fast pace of it all keeps some level of consistent movement going on, effectively ensuring that the film does not mess around with frustrating drama all that much.

To put it simply, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is obviously not a good film. It's story is generic, its humour is repetitive and there is a general feeling of predictability in it all. But thanks to a sporadic collection of unexpectedly over-the-top humour and an energetic effort from Kevin James, it isn't necessarily a boring one if viewed in the correct state of mind.

Though I expected Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 to be unfunny, I did hold hopes that would find some level of enjoyment in the performance of Kevin James. And in all essence, I did. Kevin James' natural comedic energy makes him a genial presence in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, and it elevates the thin writing of the film to some mild extent of comic success. The fact that Kevin James takes the role so seriously is entertaining because he manages to actually take a stand as a legitimate action hero while also keeping it at such a level where it remains within the confines of a juvenile comedy. The man's insistence on injecting all his energy into the physical humour of the film is actually admirable on some level as the jokes are extremely repetitive, but the sight of Kevin James doing all his stunts is good for a sporadic laugh. Kevin James has a certain level of charm about him when it comes to line delivery and a massive load of physical energy which he empties into Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 without remorse, so his leading effort should appeal to his fans on some level.

There aren't really any other cast members that end up making much of an impact though. I didn't really expect many to make much of a difference, but the presence of Gary Valentine was something I hoped would be bring more laughter into it. When there was ultimately nothing funny about him being in the film, I'll admit to being disappointed.

So Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is precisely as ludicrous and derivative as you would expect, but its overtly ridiculous nature and the energetic leading effort of Kevin James manages to keep a sense of consistent energy in the sporadic laughs of the film.