Observe and Report (2009)

Director:

Jody Hill

Writer (WGA):

Jody Hill (written by)

Release Date:

10 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Right now, the world needs a hero.

Plot:

Bi-polar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt is called into action to stop a flasher from turning shopper's paradise into his personal peep show. But when Barnhardt can't bring the culprit to justice, a surly police detective, is recruited to close the case. |

Plot Keywords:

Mall | Police Detective | Bi Polar | Flasher | Dark Comedy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Seth Rogen	...	Ronnie Barnhardt
Ray Liotta	...	Detective Harrison
Michael Peña	...	Dennis
Anna Faris	...	Brandi
Dan Bakkedahl	...	Mark
Jesse Plemons	...	Charles
John Yuan	...	John Yuen
Matt Yuan	...	Matt Yuen
Celia Weston	...	Mom
Collette Wolfe	...	Nell
Randy Gambill	...	Pervert
Alston Brown	...	Bruce
Cody Midthunder	...	D-Rock
Deborah Brown	...	Female Reporter (as Debra-Jayne Brown)
Aziz Ansari	...	Saddamn

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45064) | Australia:MA | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Finland:K-15 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:R21 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 (edited version)

Filming Locations:

Bosque Farms, New Mexico, USA

Company:

De Line Pictures

Trivia:

Jody Hill has described his initial inspiration for this film as wanting to do a comedic version of Taxi Driver (1976). There are numerous references to Taxi Driver (1976) throughout the film, like Ronnie having to restart his spoken manifesto in mid-sentence.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Seth (Ronnie) is doing his monologue in the background when he's looking at himself in the mirror (right after the bench press scene), it is obvious there is a different person looking into the bogus mirror because his body movements are not consistent with his reflection.

Quotes:

Dennis: My bad, my blunder.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Seth Rogen/Phoenix (#34.19)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

The Hero

A ridiculously over-the-top comic spectacle

Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is a bi-polar underachiever. He works as the head of mall security at the Forest Ridge Mall, while secretly wanting to become a police officer. An anonymous pervert (Randy Gambill) begins flashing women in the parking lot, and after he exposes himself to cosmetic hottie Brandi (Anna Faris), Ronnie takes it upon himself to find the flasher and bring him to justice.

Observe and Report, the second film about a mall cop this year after Paul Blart: Mall Cop, is one of the most polarizing films I have ever seen. People either loved this movie, or absolutely despised it. The film is played wildly and ridiculously over-the-top, and is played out entirely for the darkest laughs most people may ever see. There is just so much taking place in the name of bad taste that it is no wonder that people hated the experience of sitting through the film. But it is a comic spectacle no less, and even on a second viewing, still proves to be quite the hilarious film.

Having not seen The Foot Fist Way, it was almost impossible for me to have any expectations outside of what the trailer showed for this film. And I think that works immensely in its favour. The material on display pelts the viewer at such voracity that it manages to continually one up itself over and over again. It gets to the point where the story starts twisting and turning into directions no one would ever expect, and the viewer has to choose whether to stick with it to its uncompromising and immensely entertaining climax, or just to stop watching altogether. It is littered with just dozens of scenes that will turn off casual viewers or make others sit and watch more intently. A particular controversial "rape" scene comes to mind in this case, and while the filmmakers play the entire thing out for laughs, it is easy to see where some viewers may become horrifically disturbed at what boils down to writer/director Jody Hill's bizarre circus. While some of the shocks of the twists wear off in a second viewing, it does not make them any less hilarious.

Yes, there are holes in the plot, unresolved subplots and unexplained oddities throughout the film (including a trippy and borderline morbid montage featuring Rogen and Michael Peña), but the film's break neck pacing never leaves any time to dwell on them. Hill has crafted the film to just be unapologetic and simply not care that there are obvious pieces missing from it. While it does not matter in some cases, in others, it leaves some characters with such one-dimensional fallacies and next to nothing to do within the grand scheme of things. I would have loved to have seen more of Celia Weston as Ronnie's alcoholic mother, Jesse Plemons as newbie mall security recruit Charles, and even Peña as Ronnie's right hand man, Dennis. These little imperfections eat away at the film, and make for obvious areas where it could have been glossed over and fixed. The addition of more of the obvious satire of being a mall cop could have been a nice place to start.

The bizarre storyline is only complemented by the totally crazy performance by Rogen. This is a totally different character for him, and it shows in how uncompromising and how unlikable he is. You may feel for Ronnie in some scenes, but then he does something so unflinching and inhuman that he takes any pity all away. Comparisons have been made to Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, and for obvious reason. Both men are totally out of their minds, and go on a rampage in the name of good defined by themselves. While Ronnie is not quite the lunatic psychopath Travis was, he is still far from acting in the right at any time. Rogen breathes an unusual and unique life into this sad and twisted individual, and while he plays every action up for laughs, you can see he is trying something different and he almost looks uncomfortable doing it. It is more than refreshing to see him playing this off-the-rails sociopath than the lovable, cuddly, horny, pot-smoking geek he has practically perfected over the past four years.

Faris does wonders as the clueless blond hottie that Ronnie pines after. This kind of character is nothing new for Faris, but she does a great job making it still feel new. She is one-dimensional like the majority of other characters, but her one-dimensionality is not forced by the confines of the film. It is forced because that is who this idiot wonder is, and Faris makes no attempts at trying to change that. Ray Liotta is another excellent addition to the cast, as Detective Harrison, Ronnie's obvious rival. He plays the character mostly straight, but has frequent bouts of just putting Ronnie down. His performance is the most mean-spirited in the film (saying a lot for what kind of person Ronnie is), and Liotta's twisted sense of morality and judgment makes for a great character to play off of Rogen. A small turn by Aziz Ansari and a cameo by Danny McBride are also well done, providing some of the funniest moments in the film.

Observe and Report is a hard film to laugh at, and an even harder film to laugh with. It is cut of a breed of pitch black comedy that you can either appreciate or outright hate altogether. It is a stronger film than Paul Blart, but it is obvious why the film failed to find the audience the latter film did. It may be destined for cult classic status in the coming years, but for now, I am content in saying it is a good film that just missed out on being great.

8/10.