Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Fickman
Written by	Kevin James Nick Bakay
Produced by	Todd Garner Kevin James Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo[1]
Starring	Kevin James Raini Rodriguez Neal McDonough Shirley Knight
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Edited by	Scott Hill
Music by	Rupert Gregson-Williams
Production companies	LStar Capital[2] Happy Madison Productions[3] Hey Eddie[3] Broken Road Productions[3]
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures[4](through Sony Pictures Releasing[5][4])
Release date	April 17, 2015 (2015-04-17) (United States)
Running time	94 minutes[6]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30–40 million[7][8]
Box office	$107.6 million[5]

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is a 2015 American action comedy film directed by Andy Fickman and written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay. It is the sequel to 2009's Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and stars James as the eponymous mall cop, Paul Blart, along with Raini Rodriguez, Neal McDonough, and Shirley Knight.

Filming began in April 2014 at the Wynn Las Vegas casino resort. It was released the following year on April 17, 2015. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 was the first film shot on the Steve Wynn property. It was also the first film to receive Nevada's film tax credit, which had been enacted in 2013. It received a $4.3 million break after spending $40.5 million in the state. The film grossed $108 million worldwide at the box office but was panned by critics, with a 5% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot[]

Six years since after the events at West Orange Pavilion Mall, Paul Blart and Amy Anderson got married however Amy divorced him six days into their marriage, and two years later, his mother Margaret was hit by a milk truck and killed instantly. To feel better, Paul takes pride in patrolling the mall. He receives an invitation to a security officers' convention in Las Vegas and begins to believe his luck is about to change. His daughter, Maya, discovers that she was accepted into UCLA and plans to move across the country to Los Angeles, but in light of her father's invitation, she decides to withhold the information for now.

After arriving in Las Vegas, Paul and his daughter meet the general manager of Wynn Las Vegas, a pretty young woman named Divina Martinez, whom Paul is instantly attracted to. He later learns that she's dating the hotel's head of security, Eduardo Furtillo. Meanwhile, Maya falls in love with the hotel's valet, Lane. A security guard from the Mall of America attending the convention, Donna Ericone, is aware of Paul's earlier heroics in the West Orange Pavilion Mall incident and believes Paul will be the likely keynote speaker at the event. However, Paul discovers that another security guard, Nick Panero, is giving the speech.

In the midst of the convention, a criminal named Vincent Sofel and a gang of accomplices disguised as hotel employees are secretly plotting to steal priceless works of art from the hotel and replace them with replicas, then sell the real ones at auction. In the meantime, Paul has become overprotective of Maya after discovering her flirting with Lane and spies on their conversations. He is later mocked by Eduardo for his lack of professionalism in an event where hotel security was notified when Maya turns up missing. In an ensuing argument with her father, Maya becomes angry and claims she's attending UCLA despite Paul's wishes that she remain close to home at a junior college.

At the convention, Paul, Donna, and three other security guards, Saul Gundermutt, Khan Mubi, and Gino Chizetti check out the non-lethal security equipment on display. Later, Paul finds Panero drunkenly hitting on a woman at the bar. Paul attempts to defuse the situation and Panero passes out, giving Paul a chance to be the event's speaker. He contacts Maya asking her to attend, but he learns that she's at a party with Lane. As Paul prepares his speech, Vincent and his cohorts put their plan into motion. Maya absentmindedly walks into the midst of the heist and is taken hostage. Lane is kidnapped as well while searching for her. Paul gives a rousing speech that moves everyone at the convention, as well as Divina, who inexplicably finds herself becoming more attracted to Paul with each passing moment. Following the speech, Paul learns about Maya and Lane's situation and rushes to help but abruptly collapses due to his hypoglycemia that has plagued him for years.

After recovering, Paul is able to take down several of Vincent's thugs and gathers intel on the group's intentions. Using non-lethal equipment from the convention, he is able to take out more of Vincent's crew. Meanwhile, Maya and Lane overhear Vincent adamantly refusing an oatmeal cookie due to a severe oatmeal allergy, leading to said cookie being thrown from a window. Working with a team – Donna, Saul, Khan, and Gino – Paul is able to clumsily dismantle Vincent's operation, with Maya severely incapacitating Vincent by rubbing oatmeal-infused concealer on his face and Paul finishing Vincent off with an extremely forceful headbutt. Afterward, Paul convinces Divina to be with Eduardo. He also accepts Maya going to UCLA, funding her tuition with the reward money he obtained from Steve Wynn for stopping Vincent. After dropping off Maya at UCLA, Paul falls for a mounted police officer who reciprocates his advances, but her horse reflexively kicks him into a car.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

In January 2009, Sony expressed an interest in making a sequel to Paul Blart: Mall Cop.^[18] It was revealed on January 7, 2014, that Andy Fickman was in talks to direct the film^[19] while Kevin James, who also co-wrote the script with Nick Bakay, would be back to star as Blart. James produced the film along with Todd Garner and Happy Madison's Adam Sandler.^[9] The cast includes David Henrie,^[11] Raini Rodriguez, Eduardo Verástegui, Nicholas Turturro, Gary Valentine,^[13] Neal McDonough,^[10] Daniella Alonso,^[12] and D. B. Woodside, starring alongside James.^[15]

On March 14, 2014, the Nevada Film Office announced that Sony Pictures had been awarded the first certificate of eligibility for a new tax credit enacted in 2013, in regard to the filming of Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.^[20][21] Nevada Film Office Director, Eric Preiss, indicated that the production would get $4.3 million in tax credits based on the proposal in their application.^[22] The film was initially greenlit with a $45–50 million production budget, but after Kevin James agreed to take a paycut the final figure came in at around $38 million.^[23] On April 2, 2014, Columbia Pictures announced that the film would be released on April 17, 2015.^[24]

Filming[]

The Wynn building, where the entire film was shot

In an October 2012 interview, James said that he liked the idea of filming the sequel at the Mall of America.^[25] Principal photography commenced on April 21, 2014, at Wynn Las Vegas, and ended on June 26, 2014.^[26][27][28] It is the first time that Steve Wynn has allowed a commercial film to be shot at this property.^[29] For the only scene involving the West Orange Pavilion Mall (shown at the beginning of the film), the only exterior shot of the mall is deleted stock footage of the Burlington Mall taken from the first film, while all interior shots were filmed in Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas.^{[citation needed]}

Release[]

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 was released by Columbia Pictures in the United States on April 17, 2015.^[24] It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 14, 2015.^[30]

Reception[]

Box office[]

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 grossed $71 million in North America and $36.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $107.3 million, against a production budget of $38 million.^[5]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $23.8 million, finishing second at the box office behind Furious 7 ($29.2 million).^[31]

Critical response[]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 5% of 60 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 2.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Bathed in flop sweat and bereft of purpose, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 strings together fat-shaming humor and Segway sight gags with uniformly unfunny results."^[32] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 13 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".^[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[34]

Sara Stewart of the New York Post gave the film one out of four stars and wrote that the plot is "just an excuse for James to do his one trick over and over: Bluster, then screw up humiliatingly".^[35] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "James tries hard, very hard, to inject the proceedings with slapstick humor, propelling his large body through endless physical contortions in a fruitless effort for laughs."^[36] Justin Chang of Variety called it a "tacky, numbingly inane sequel".^[37]

In rating the film zero stars, Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com wrote, "Truly, there is not a single redeeming moment in director Andy Fickman's film. A general flatness and lethargy permeate these reheated proceedings."^[38] Kevin P. Sullivan of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D and called it "far from the worst movie that you'll ever see", though he wondered why people would bother watching it.^[39] Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave the film a half a star out of four, saying: "Caddyshack 2. Exorcist 2. Speed 2. To this small sample of the ever-expanding list of wretched movie sequels, add Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, a gobsmackingly witless excuse for entertainment."^[40] Andy Webster of The New York Times described the film as inoffensive but familiar.^[41]

In 2015, Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery (hosts of The Worst Idea of All Time) formed a podcast called Til Death Do Us Blart with Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, and Griffin McElroy (hosts of My Brother, My Brother and Me) to review Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 every Thanksgiving for the rest of their lives.^[42] They continue to critique the film for its fatphobia, misogyny, and plot holes.^[43]

Accolades[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 at IMDb
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 at Metacritic