Director: Jody Hill
Starring: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris & Ray Liotta
A dark comedy that has some enjoyable moments but suffers from an uneven tone that affects its attempts at seriousness as well as its attempts at humor.
Coming soon after another mall-security guard comedy, Paul Blart, which was an altogether lighter and more mainstream comedy, Observe and Report arrives and is a far darker and adult approach to the same concept of mall-security guard trying to overcome personal problems and be successful. Starring Seth Rogen, starring after a string of recent hit-comedies such as Knocked Up and Pineapple Express, Observe and Report, on paper, appears to have the potential to be another hit. However, audiences expecting a comedy similar in tone to either Paul Blart or Rogen’s previous films may be surprised at the far darker, and certainly unpleasant, themes running throughout this film.
Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen) is the head of mall security. Suffering from Bi-Polar depression, but possessing an over-inflated opinion of his own authority, Ronnie's main pre-occupation at his workplace is with Brandi (Faris), the girl working at the mall’s make up counter. After a flasher exposes himself to several women at the mall, including Brandi, and with Ronnie’s attempts to investigate undermined by Detective Harrison (Liotta), Ronnie finds himself driven to catch the flasher before the police and proving himself to Harrison and to Brandi. With no success in this, or in solving a string of burglaries, Ronnie is declared incompetent by Harrison. Ronnie then attempts to join the police force only to find he is psychologically unfit to be a police officer. Frustrated by his failures including attempts to form a relationship with Brandi, Ronnie begins to melt down.
Observe and Report does have some ambition, dealing with Ronnie’s psychological condition and a discernable lack of education and their effect on Ronnie. Ronnie sets himself unrealistic goals, fails to apply himself effectively to achieve them and blames others for his failures. Ronnie is portrayed as a loser, but rather than demonstrate any charm that might make him loveable to audiences anyway, he is portrayed more as a pitiable figure and, frequently, as an unlikable one. Observe and Report occasionally works as a black comedy, however its attempts to lighten some genuinely dark moments with humor, particularly crude humor (one scene in where Ronnie has sex with a near-comatose Brandi provokes slight laughs but very awkward ones) fall flat. One scene, where Harrison informs Ronnie that he won’t be a police officer is interrupted by Harrison’s partner who declares that he “thought this was gonna be funny but it’s actually sad” which captures the tone whenever Ronnie fails. However, Ronnie’s successes often succeed in being quite amusing such as his attempts to bust up a drug corner and the film’s finale when Ronnie finally confronts the flasher plaguing his mall.
Performances in Observe and Report are mixed. Seth Rogen does play down his more likeable character traits effectively to portray Ronnie as the struggling, unstable, individual he is though his handling of a voiceover during a scene seemingly inspired by Taxi Driver struggles to generate tension or humor and feels out of place. The rest of the cast of Observe and Report seem to, like with Rogen, involve them playing more unpleasant versions of character types they’ve played before. Anna Faris, known for playing somewhat shallow, yet likeable characters in comedies plays Brandi as far more cold and conceited while Liotta’s Detective Harrison is frequently vindictive and condescending. Only Collette Wolfe’s Nell, and employee at the mall’s coffee bar, is in any way likeable.
Overall, Observe and Report possesses some genuinely amusing scenes, several of them quite dark, and also handles some of its darker themes quite well but often the humor feels out of place, falling flat and added to characters who are frequently too unlikable to laugh at, Observe and Report frequently struggles to satisfy.
Rating: 2/5
