Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

The first "Paul Blart" movie was as stupid as its title, and "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is no different. But then, that's the entire point of the movie. Nobody walks into "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" looking to be challenged.

Picking up a few years after the events of "Mall Cop 1," Blart (Kevin James) is now a divorcee with a recently deceased mother His daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez) is heading off to college, leaving him alone. Worst of all, his life as a mild-mannered mall cop, while satisfying, has never again reached the heights of the day he saved the mall.

Just when things have hit rock bottom, lo and behold, salvation from the sin city: a Mall Cop convention in Las Vegas. Blart and Maya pack their bags and head to the desert for some rest and relaxation.

Unfortunately, the hotel hosting the convention is also filled with valuable artwork marked for theft by criminal Vincent Sofel (Neal McDonough, defining 'slumming it'). Sofel and his criminals end up kidnapping Maya.

This time, it's personal.

I wasn't aware when I started the movie, but realized very quickly "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is a Happy Madison production. For those unaware, Happy Madison is Adam Sandler's production company, responsible for masterpieces like "Jack & Jill," Grown Ups," and "Joe Dirt." Most Happy Madison films rely heavily on gross-out humor and slapstick; to its credit, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is mostly the latter. I was in stitches with shocked-humor the first time a character got hit out of an unexpected bus.

But then it happened again.

And again.

And...again.

Really, the only audience for "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" I can imagine is bored teenage boys on a Friday night, looking for something to viciously make fun of with their friends. And that's not to say "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is never funny. It has moments of legitimately well choreographed slapstick humor, courtesy Kevin James, who clearly loves the character enough to make him genuinely affecting.

Unfortunately, "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2" is never substantive enough to really savage. It's a movie with one gag, a movie trapped in a strange state of limbo wherein the fact it exists is the funniest thing about it.