”The world has no use for another scared man. Right now, the world needs a fucking hero.”
Much like Adventureland which was released a week before, Observe and Report is advertised as something it’s not. Trading on the popularity of Seth Rogen, Observe has plenty of low-brow, raunchy humor, but it's not the wall-to-wall laugh riot the trailers make it out to be. It’s far darker than any of the Apatow or Apatow-like films. The comparison could be made that this is Seth Rogen's Cable Guy. The film is the sophomore effort from writer/director Jody Hill who inexplicably wowed a select group of Sundance festival-goers with his debut, The Foot Fist Way about an abrasive Tae Kwan Do instructor played by Danny McBride.
Seth Rogen’s Ronnie Barnhardt has a similarly abrasive attitude sometimes hidden behind a mask of geniality. Barnhardt is a mall cop, but he’s not quite as likeable as previous Rogen characters and he’s certainly nothing like Paul Blart. He’s bipolar with a deep-seated vicious streak and delusions of grandeur. Ronnie has held an unrequited crush on Brandi (Anna Faris), the buxom blonde behind the make-up counter. A serial flasher begins turning the mall into his own personal playground by exposing himself to unsuspecting women. When Brandi becomes his latest victim, he vows to bring the pervert to justice. This puts him at odds with Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), the officer assigned to the case. Harrison becomes even more exasperated when Ronnie makes it known that he intends to join the police force. Throughout the film, Ronnie battles his own personal demons just as he battles teenage skateboarders.
Observe and Report answers the question of what Taxi Driver would have been like if Scorsese made it into a comedy. Ronnie Barnhardt is a disturbed individual and walks that thin line between being funny and repulsive. It's only through the sheer force of personality that Rogen keeps him from becoming completely unsympathetic. The first half of the film belie the darker corners in which it delves in the latter half. Jody Hill's script is uneven. At times, it's sharp and outrageous. Yet, Hill fails to curb his baser impulses and the film just goes too far, particularly in the end.
Rogen's best scenes really are when he's attempting to keep things more lighthearted. He trades F you's with a Middle Eastern vendor (Aziz Ansari) who he derisively calls Saddam. Anna Faris is perfectly suited for the shallow bimbo role and proves again she's one of the most talented female comics today. The real surprise comes from Michael Pena who is known more for dramatic fare such as Crash and World Trade Center. Here, Pena dons a mop top and lisp to play Ronnie's second-in-command Dennis.
Rating: ** 1/2
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