In my original review of 2009's "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," it was predicted that the film's title "may be reason enough for this tepid, instantly forgettable comedy to go belly-up at the box office. Seriously, does making a trip to the theater and spending ten bucks a pop to see something called 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' sound appealing to anyone?" These words proved to be the opposite of prophetic when the movie opened at #1 with an astonishing weekend take of $31.8-million, then went on to earn a second weekend in the top spot and an overall domestic cume of over $146-million. Apparently, audiences were, in fact, clamoring to pay ten bucks a pop to see something called "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." Due to the film's success, it is not shocking that a sequel would be made. In the arguably too-long six years it took for a follow-up installment, however, it doesn't look like Kevin James and Nick Bakay spent more than a quick afternoon writing the screenplay. As lame-brained as the earlier movie was, there was a simple heart-on-its-sleeve earnestness that glimmered in between the juvenile slapstick. The slapdash, desperately unfunny "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" cannot rise to even that modest claim.
It takes approximately thirty seconds for James and Bakay to undo any existing good will viewers might have for its predecessor when security guard Paul Blart's (Kevin James) new wife, Amy (Jayma Mays, seen only in archival footage from the first pic), sends him divorce papers after six days of marriage. Adding amazing insult to injury, they brutally murder Paul's sweet, doting mother (Shirley Jones) when she gets run over by a milk truck. Can we stop right here to ask who in their right mind would deem this to be a respectable or even remotely funny way to pick things back up? "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" isn't exactly a sacred classic for the ages, but to make a mockery of and demolish its most likable elements is one of the year's biggest cinematic head-scratchers thus far. The second head-scratcher is that "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is a movie that actually exists in the real world and not as a joke title in the background of a much better, infinitely more clever comedy.
See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review
