Silly, stupid comedies are not my thing, yet I’m always hopeful that the next one I see will be smart and clever.  Alas, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 did not elevate its game to the level of cleverness that I had hoped.  But I don’t hate it, either.  It’s just another of these slick hybrid comic crime mutations (like Tower Heist) that attempts to mix derring-do with slapstick shenanigans.  As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one character in one movie series that made this formula work, and that’s Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther films.  Everyone else is a pretender.

After a series of personal catastrophes, mall cop Paul Blart (Kevin James) takes his daughter (Raini Rodriguez) to Las Vegas for a security cop convention.  Father and daughter momentarily drift apart, but Blart goes on a rescue mission when she is kidnapped by an art forger who is trying to pull off a big swindle in one of Vegas’ hotels.  Naturally, Blart gets back-up from his colleagues, and all ends well, but not until after a whole lot of silliness.

Andy Fickman’s film follows the formula as Blart continually makes a fool of himself in virtually every situation, yet has the heroism and skill to foil a professional art thief (Neal McDonough) with two different color eyes.  The film wants to create and sustain believable drama during the heist, but fails pretty miserably.  What does work is the funny stuff, such as when Blart continually tasers one of the bad guys again and again while on a phone call.  Moments like that leaven the film’s leaden attempts at suspense.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is nothing more than a passable time-filler.  It looks pretty good (photographed by Dean Semler), but it’s like a balloon, pretty outside with absolutely nothing inside but stale air.  ☆ 1/2.  18 April 2015.