10 Movies That Totally Ripped Off Die Hard
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Though some might argue that Kevin James' rancid 2009 "comedy" is enough of a Die Hard ripoff that it basically qualifies as a parody, that would require the movie to actually be, you know, funny.
James' title character is a mediocre mall cop who is called to act when a gang of thugs siege a bank inside the mall, with the object of his affection, Amy (a luminous Jayma Mays the movie didn't deserve), held hostage inside.
This leads to many scenes of James falling over, some hilariously ill-aged product placement for the video game Rock Band and...not a lot else you'll actually remember.
The similarities are surprisingly extensive when you analyse the movie's core plot: it's even got Blart wrestling with the hyper-masculine, dick-swinging authority figures who were also present in Die Hard (Agent Johnson and Special Agent Johnson, no relation).
Furthermore, Blart gets a gun pulled on him at the last-minute and rescued by a pal - much like Karl's last-ditch attempt on McClane's life - and gets reunited with Amy at the end.
That's probably more detail than anyone needs to get into for this movie, but rest assured it's an utterly failed attempt at basically remaking Die Hard as a flat-out comedy. Gross.