Rick Thorne as Cupid in Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
In Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), the heist crew that takes over the West Orange Pavilion Mall on Black Friday comes with North Pole code names. Rick Thorne plays Cupid, one of the criminals working for the gang’s leader, Veck Simms.
Cupid is not a lead villain. He is part of the crew that Paul Blart, played by Kevin James, takes on one at a time. Even so, the part sits in one of the film’s most recognizable ideas: a gang disguised as Santa’s Village employees, each named after a reindeer.
Who Cupid is in the story
The film was directed by Steve Carr and written by Kevin James and Nick Bakay. It follows a hypoglycemic mall security guard who is turned down by the New Jersey State Police and takes his job very seriously. When the heist begins, the gang, led by Keir O’Donnell’s Veck, disguised as Santa’s Village employees, takes hostages. Blart is the only one in a position to stop them.
Cupid is one of Veck’s criminals in the heist. The rest of the crew includes Rudolph (Mike Vallely), Blitzen (Mike Escamilla), Prancer (Jason Ellis), Comet (Jason Packham), Donner (Victor T. Lopez) and Vixen. In effect the group works as one comic unit, a pack of henchmen that Blart outmaneuvers in turn. Thorne’s job is to be one credible member of that pack.
A performance built on presence
Cupid has little dialogue to carry. The role works through contrast. A menacing crew in Santa-themed disguises is a joke the film leans on, and the henchmen must look like a real threat for Blart’s improvised heroics to land. Thorne came to the film from outside conventional acting. His own site describes him as a professional BMXer, musician, TV host and entertainer, and the Cupid role is the screen credit he is best known for.
How the film was received
Critics were not kind. On Rotten Tomatoes, 34% of 116 critics’ reviews are positive, and Metacritic gave it a score of 39. Variety’s Brian Lowry called it “An almost shockingly amateurish one-note-joke comedy.” Roger Ebert was warmer, giving it three stars out of four and praising its “wholesome” comedy.
Audiences made it a hit. It opened at No. 1 at the domestic box office, and it finished with a final domestic gross of $146,336,178, from a budget of about $26 million. Sony followed it with Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, released on April 17, 2015.
Where Thorne’s career went
After Cupid, Thorne kept working across action sports and entertainment rather than shifting into a full acting career. He hosts The Rick Thorne Show, a podcast in which, according to his site, he interviews athletes, musicians, actors, designers and entertainers. He also fronts the music project Good Guys in Black. The most recent posts on his site date from March 2024.
FAQ
Who plays Cupid in Paul Blart: Mall Cop?
Rick Thorne plays Cupid, one of the reindeer-named criminals in Veck Simms’s crew. The film was released in the United States on January 16, 2009.
What does Cupid do in the film?
He is part of the gang that takes over the mall during a Black Friday heist. Paul Blart defeats the crew one by one while trying to rescue the hostages.
Is Rick Thorne known for anything besides Paul Blart: Mall Cop?
Yes. Thorne is a professional BMX rider, musician and TV host, and he runs a podcast. His site describes him as an entertainer first, with Cupid as one of his best-known screen roles.
The header image is an AI-generated illustration, not an actual photo or film still.
