Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015) - James returns with welcome low-brow shenanigans

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Star Kevin James seemingly runs atop the roof of a major Las Vegas hotel on this chuckle-worthy poster for Andy Fickman's Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

Blart is regaining his footing after a very quick divorce, when he gets invited to a mall cop conference in Las Vegas, - and of course he elects to bring his daughter along.

 

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is written by co-writer/co-producer/star Kevin James (Zookeeper (2011)) and Nick Bakay (Mom (2013-21)) and directed by Andy Fickman (She's the Man (2006)). It is the sequel to Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) by Steve Carr.

- Turns out there are some mean types in Vegas, who are after some art in the major hotel Wynn Las Vegas, - and it is all naturally enormously silly. At times the connections between events here are almost completely lost, but at the same time Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is an irresistible low-brow comedy, and James' physical brand of comedy is particularly fun here. Gary Valentine (Jack and Jill (2011)) also amuses as a veteran mall cop, and Neal McDonough (Apex (2021)) deserves praise for an altogether ludicrous villain's performance here that's hysterical. Raini Rodriguez (Rekindling Christmas (2020)) as Blart's daughter is also cute. 

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is intellectually low-ceilinged to be sure but damned charming and funnier than you think!

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: Reportedly 38 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 107.5 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.82 times its cost)

[Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 was released 9 April (Germany) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Florida. The film was the first to attain Nevada's film tax rebate, reportedly netting it 4.3 mil. $ returned. James reportedly accepted a pay cut to reduce the budget size. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Furious 7, to a 23.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#4-#5), grossing 71 mil. $ (66 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 6.1 mil. $ (5.7 %) and Mexico with 5.6 mil. $ (5.2 %). The film additionally made an estimated 12.4 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Talks of another sequel haven't yet come to fruition. Fickman returned with 7 TV credits prior to his theatrical return Playing with Fire (2019). James returned in Liv and Maddie (2015, TV-series) and theatrically in Pixels (2015). Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is rotten at 6 % with a 3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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