Because he’s fat! That’s the punch line for pretty much every joke in “Paul Blart 2.” In fact that’s been the punch line for most of Kevin James’ bland career. He’s fat. That’s why it’s funny when he falls down. He lies in bed eating a bottomless bowl of M&M’s. Because he’s fat. Get it? He flips over whenever he falls because he’s so fat. Get it? And he’s loud, too. I can’t believe anyone wanted a sequel to “Paul Blart,” but the first movie was a hit, so I assume a sequel was only logical.
It’s just that the movie does nothing with the premise anymore, and James just invests himself in to a character that is so awkwardly stupid and unfunny the whole time he’s on-screen. There’s nothing about Paul Blart that’s likable. He’s selfish, whiny, egomaniacal, kind of xenophobic, and a glutton. Because he’s fat! Yes, we get it. But hey at least James and his family got to go to the Wynn hotel and casino right?! Las Vegas, big hotel, five star accommodations, and they get to star in a film with ten percent of its run time devoted to establishing shots of the hotel and casino. Man does the Happy Madison crowd love a good work vacation or what?
“Grown Ups 2,” “Blended,” “Paul Blart 2,” et al all feature the characters on vacation. The movie gets off on showing us how incredible the Wynn hotel and casino, right down to the very attractive concierges that even hit on Paul Blart at one point. Despite being fat. See, I changed it up there. Nothing has worked for Paul Blart. His mom dies, his cute fiancé asks for a divorce and now he only has his daughter. She’s been accepted in to UCLA but is afraid to tell her dad, who is lonely. He has a chance to attend a security conference in Las Vegas (Wynn!), and he is more than happy to attend with his daughter (Wynn! Wynn!). While there they don’t realize they’re in the middle of a huge theft involving art and the hotel’s top tier gallery (Wynn! Wynn! Wynn!).
Now Paul has to jump to the rescue and the every man gets his day to be heroic. When the movie isn’t mocking the lower class and middle aged mind you. Every other character above the age of thirty or who doesn’t look like a model are mocked relentlessly and forced in to the tedious and mean spirited racial stereotypes that border on offensive so often. The movie has no respect for the working class, and even less respect for its audience. There’s nothing about Paul that can connect to the core audience, so we’re just watching this moron running around and getting painfully lucky shots in on some of the worst henchmen since Adam West’s Batman. I’m shocked, with so much fat shaming that occurs, that Kevin James is still so affable and good natured. “Paul Blart 2” is not about the every man hero, it’s about the fat slob working class and how we should laugh at them and not with them.