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

Written and Directed By: Jody Hill
Staring: Seth Rogan, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Anna Faris,  Dan Bakkedahl, Jesse Plemmons, John Yuan, Matt Yuan, Collette Wolfe, Celia Weston, Aziz Ansari, and Randy Gambill

The world has no use for another scared man. Right now, the world needs a f***ing hero. -Ronnie

Synopsis

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.

Review

Observe and Report deserves it’s own personal section in the comedy section, perhaps with giant sparkling warning labels.  Whether it failed or succeeded at being a funny movie, it was by far one of the most awkward and bizarre films I have ever viewed.  It disguises itself in the first forty minutes or so as a regular comedy, with some more extreme characters, but the plot looks set, and certain events appear to be easily predicted, however nothing about Observe and Report could have been anticipated.

The plot settles itself in a typical comedy comfort zone with character’s that have fouler mouths than the general comedy, but other than that, things seem easy to foresee.  A local mall security guard runs a tight ship, keeping things in order until one day the mall becomes terrorized by a flasher.  He begins to investigate the issue, and even makes a spot on the local news, but isside-blinded by a local police detective , and suddenly Ronnie feels as though his territory is being intruded on.  On a whim he applies for the local police force, but after things don’t transpire exactly as he had planned everything begins to go off the wire.

For the first forty minutes or so, the film has a logic to it, and a pacing that makes sense.  When Ronnie goes off his bi-polar medication, the film itself goes off it’s medication as well, and suddenly nothing about Observe and Report is sane let alone predictable.  The pathos of the story, the characters, and where the plot will eventually end up becomes a blatant shot in the dark.  While it’s difficult to adjust to the change in the story, it truly makes it more enjoyable to have absolutely no clue what will happen next in the movie, whether it is good for our hero  or even makes sense.  The idea of shaking thatformula type comedy off it’s rocker was a treat in itself.

Seth Rogan was simply hilarious.  The commitment to his character was impeccable and he constantly has you laughing.  Ronnie’s ignorance to the reality surrounding him, and the strange behavior he exudes make Observe and Report worth watching in itself, but what happened to AnnaFaris ?  She is one of the more talented comedic actresses out there today, and she’s always been a very attractive woman, but it appeared her face had suffered the wrath of some terrible plastic surgery.  Whether she did it for her character or not is unknown to me, but as obnoxious as her character was, her swollen lips were simply atrocious.  She had some really funny moments in the movie, but it became difficult to pay attention to her with thetrain-wreck of her face.  With exception to the strange visual appearance, she was hysterical as usual, in particularly the drunken dinner scene. Her sleazy character provided for an interesting dynamic in the story.

The chaos of the last thirty minutes is difficult to interpret.  None of the character’s end up where you expect them to, and the resolve they do get is not exactly tied up with a neat bow.  It’s clear this was a fun movie to make, and while it’s downright shocking at times, it is obvious the intent wasn’t necessarily to shock, but to make people laugh.  The character’s range from strange to weird to RayLiotta, who plays the most fair minded of the roles, and even he is a bit off his rocker.

Observe And Report is not the best movie I’ve ever seen, or even the best comedy.  As a film compiled it isn’t really cohesive, but in spite of that it is absolutely funny, but it’s not a humor that’s going to appeal to everyone.  Some of the humor is violent, perverted, drug related, and just disgusting, but it’s hysterical nonetheless.  This might not be a movie for everyone, but it was gut busting funny for me.  I appreciated the shock and awe of it all.  Observe and Report was good bipolar gone bad entertainment.

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