I was recently reading an article in the Los Angeles Times which had an interview with Jody Hill, the writer/director of the recently released “Observe and Report.” Reading it was the best preparation I got for watching the movie, as the trailers made it look like the typical Judd Apatow produced, Seth Rogen starring comedy. However, director Hill didn’t really see it as a comedy, and he said that the term “dark comedy” didn’t really apply to the film the way he envisioned it. Hell, even Seth Rogen went out of his way to call the film a “dangerous comedy.” I never would have guessed that from the trailers which made the film seem like you’re average formulaic comedy that I was more or less interested in seeing. I should have seen it coming that it was not going to be what I expected it to be when I realized that Judd Apatow had nothing to do with it.
If you’re thinking “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” redux, you’re dead wrong. At least, that’s what I have heard. I never bothered seeing the movie, and I don’t think I missed all that much as a result. With “Observe and Report,” you need to go in expecting “Taxi Driver” or “One Hour Photo” as if they were comedies. This is a very black comedy, we’re talking Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” black. It touches on several ever so touchy subjects such as drug abuse, date rape, alcoholism, delusional, and racial stereotypes among others. It is also proof that comedy can be mined out of places and subjects that you would never expect to find it. Jody Hill and Seth Rogen have proven here that have a large pair of cojones on them as they take big risks with their subject matter and come out of it with many moments that are frickin’ hilarious. It says a lot about this movie that it can break taboos, most likely offend you, and still have you laughing your ass off at the same time.
Seth Rogen stars in the movie as Ronnie Barnhardt, the head of Forest Ridge mall security. From the start, we can clearly see that this is a guy with a few screws loose. Along with his fellow mall cops, he laments the fact that none of them are allowed guns on the job (a montage shows how sharp they are at shooting targets in the most uncomfortable of nether regions). Ronnie is a hero in his own mind, and no one takes the job of what is essentially a “rent a cop” position as seriously as him. Ronnie also longs to join the police force, but he is kept from being accepted due to his bi-polar illness which he treats with the typical medication that Scientologists cannot stand. This is not your typical Seth Rogen character where you wonder if and when he will get the girl. Instead, you wonder if this guy is going to have a psychotic break and end up killing someone before it is too late.
Ronnie’s mission in life, however, becomes crystal clear to him when a flasher ends up exposing himself to the girl he has a total crush on, makeup counter employee Brandi (Anna Faris of “Scary Movie” fame). So distraught she is after this attack that Ronnie makes it his mission to catch the flasher before he can come at her again. But then the local police department gets involved in the form of Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta at his overplaying best), and Ronnie sees this as a threat to his mission. The way Ronnie sees it, this is his case and no one else’s. To let the local police take over like they should would be to give up control of his territory, that being the mall. Paul Blart may have taken his job as a mall cop seriously, but he has got nothing on Ronnie Barnhardt. Absolutely nothing!
For Seth Rogen, this movie represents a very sharp change of place for him. Through movies like “Knocked Up” and “Zack & Miri Make a Porno,” he has perfected the role of lovable loser to the point where it was like you could not see him in any other role. This usually results in a career that starts big and then ends up crashing far beneath the earth’s surface. I was hoping to see him play some other role because I found him to be one of the funniest actors to be a breakout star in the longest time, and I was in no mood to see him crash and burn. With his role in “Observe and Report,” Rogen finally breaks out of his comfort zone to play someone that is anything but lovable. Seth also never plays the role just for laughs which is a major plus. As Ronnie Barnhardt, he manages to find the heart of this delusional character, and he keeps the audience up with him even as his mental state continues to get worse. Seth even makes you come to care about Ronnie even when it looks like he is about to erupt Travis Bickle style.
Among the supporting cast in “Observe and Report” is, of all people, Michael Pena. As Dennis, Ronnie’s second in command and best friend, Pena also goes against type to play a role that we have never see him in before. For the last few years, he has proven to be the most dependable of supporting actors in dramatic movies like “Crash,” “Shooter,” and “World Trade Center” to name a few. As Dennis, he ends up stealing scenes from Seth Rogen as his character ends up taking directions that you never expect him to take in the film. The moment where you see him posing on the down escalator like he is some badass is one of the funniest moments in the movie. This is an inspired performance by Pena, and he serves (however briefly) as Ronnie’s conscience when he sees that Ronnie is taking himself WAY too seriously. Dennis’ methods of loosening up Ronnie, however, are anything but safe and legal.
Another inspired performance to be found in “Observe and Report” is from Celia Weston, and she plays Ronnie’s alcoholic mother who still lets her son live under her roof even when he is well into his 30’s. There is no doubt of how much Celia’s character loves her son even in the most inebriated state, and it leads to where she tells one of Ronnie’s fellow mall cops of how she slept with his friends while he was in high school. This could have been a cruel and clichéd character but Celia makes it a lot more than that.
You also have to give a lot of credit to Anna Faris who proves that she is not afraid of going to extreme lengths to get laughs. Throughout the movie, she never tries to sweeten her character up like many actresses would have. Her character of Brandi will easily remind you of all those spoiled rotten bitches you had the misfortune of going to high school with all those years ago. Right now, she is proving to be one of cinema’s most valuable comic actresses with this and “The House Bunny” among other flicks. Many may hate the way her character is treated in the movie, but to a large extent, Brandi brings a lot of it on herself. Like Seth and Jody, Anna does not shy away from the unpleasant extremes of her role.
Then there is Ray Liotta, who will always be best remembered for his performance as Henry Hill in “GoodFellas.” Ever since that movie, Liotta has turned in some great work, but more often than not, he plays parts that force him to overact to an embarrassing extent. But for once, that over the top Liotta we have come to know fits perfectly into this blackest of comedies. As Detective Harrison, Liotta is the perfect counterpoint to Rogen’s mentally unhinged mall cop. His strait-laced character has his shit together, but that doesn’t necessarily make him all that much better. One of the movie’s best moments has him taking Ronnie Barnhardt on a ride along which ends with him stranding Ronnie on a bad corner with a bunch of crack head drug dealers. How Ronnie ends up handling these dealers is something I would prefer not to spoil for you. Just when you think you know where the scene is going, Jody and Seth pull the rug right out from under you.
Another really nice performance here is from Collette Wolfe who plays Nell, an employee at the mall’s coffee shop who is somewhat hindered by her leg being in a cast. While Brandi really wants nothing to do with Ronnie, Nell pines for him every time he comes to get his cup of coffee. She also has to deal with an unsympathetic boss (“Ratatouille’s” Patton Oswalt of all people) who picks on her whenever given the opportunity. She is a sweet presence in an otherwise nasty movie that seeks to make you uncomfortable and laugh at the same time. For a moment, I thought this would turn into another tale of unrequited love a la “Rules of Attraction,” but Collette’s character gives Ronnie the emotional grounding he DESPERATLEY needs.
Jody Hill’s biggest success with “Observe and Report” doesn’t lie in just the laughs he will get from the audience, but it lies in the fact that Jody and the actors never just play everything just for laughs. There is no winking at the camera in this film. The actors don’t play it completely straight in this movie, but they take their roles seriously and never appear as if they all know they are in a movie. If they did, the movie would not be anywhere as effective.
Hill’s breakthrough directorial effort was the movie “The Foot Fist Way” which also served as the breakthrough for Danny McBride who went on to appear in “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder” (he has a cameo in this movie as well). It is clear that Hill revels in the portrait of people who live in their own world and who are oblivious to what the world thinks of them. What Hill does here is ballsy to say the least. It makes me want to see the other work he has done thus far, and to see what he plans to make next.
“Observe and Report” also serves as a biting satire of the mall culture that serves as the movie’s setting. It ends up being symbolic of the melting pot that is the
This movie also continues the current trend started with movies like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” of showing the penis in all its tiny glory. The audience I saw it with seemed more shocked by the “throbbing python of love” (as Robin Williams once described it) than they were with Seth Rogen’s character with a gun in his hand, and hitting his targets so precisely on the shooting range. After all these years, American audiences still prove to be an unknowingly hypocritical bunch, finding ourselves more comfortable with the sight of a gun than we do with the appearance of a sexual organ presented for all to see.
Suffice to say, not everything in the movie works perfectly. The ending where Ronnie defends his place in the mall falls a little flat, this despite the use of Queen’s music from “Flash Gordon” (hail to the Queen indeed). Granted, the mix of comedy and action and violence is a tricky road, and it works to a certain point in this film. However, it is a shaky road that is bound to have some inescapable potholes.
Still, when all is said and done, “Observe and Report” is indeed a comedy with big cojones that cannot be easily ignored, and which is anything but average. Jody Hill is the first director I have seen since the Farelly brothers to tackle sensitive subjects and still come up with a lot of laughs despite all that. Hill’s daring with the character that really has no business being a cop of any kind is a bold comedy move that pays off thanks to the performance of Seth Rogen. With this role, Seth proves that there is more to him than playing all lovable losers.
You were warned, “Observe and Report” is not a movie for all tastes. But for those who are willing to travel a darkly comic path, there is much to find in this crazy film that dares to imagine a Travis Bickle-like character as a funny person despite himself. Do not say that you weren’t warned.
*** out of ****
Brilliant review.
Like Adventureland, I can't stop thinking about it.