Observe and Report

We have a new auteur in comedy director/writer Jody Hill. With two films and one television series under his belt now, his vision is pretty clear: he makes comedies about nasty, mean-spirited people who can be extremely unpleasant to be around. His work divide audiences sharply, and even those who like it, like myself, have their reservations. Observe and Report is heavily influenced by Taxi Driver. Seth Rogen plays the head of mall security. He spends most of his days wishing he were more important, but he also likes to believe that he is very important where he is. He dreams of shooting the bad guys and getting the hot girl (Anna Faris, a bimbo who works at a makeup counter at the mall). When a local police detective (Ray Liotta) starts horning in on his mall and his girl, Rogen begins to fly off the handle. Like Hill's previous film, The Foot Fist Way, what Observe and Report really needs is a few more laughs. It was funny, but it always felt like it could be funnier. The movie's often very depressing, and Hill is effective in making those painful moments work. Even though Rogen is pretty crazy and frankly a bad person, I felt sorry for him. If Hill could pull off more humorous moments, the balance would work a lot better.

This movie surprised me in a very positive way, i really liked the balance of dark and gritty comedy but at the same time also cute and beautiful (often in a very twisted way).

It was a refreshing movie to watch, maybe not as good as Bad-Ass (exact same kind of twisted humor) but nevertheless a movie that shouldn't be missed by anyone who loves dark comedy.

With comedy and horror it's impossible to go by the IMDb score, i think a 6 a way too low rating for this movie, but if you're frequent IMDb visitor you know about this already. People just have extremely varied taste when it comes to comedy and horror, either you love it or you hate it..

Observe and Report. No, it is not a ripoff of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, lets get that out of the way right now. This movie has been troubled since the very beginning and has been disowned by critics for being too dark to be funny. Dark? Yes, this movie has its share of politically incorrect humor and gratuitous violence played up for laughs. But to call it not funny…. I simply cannot fathom why anyone did. This movie is a laugh-out-loud spectacle. Its almost as good in the way that Bad Santa was good. Seth Rogen even plays his character akin to Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (minus the Oscar worthiness and anything that made Travis Bickle a classic character of course, I'm not equating Rogen to DeNiro). The rest of the cast exemplified terrific comedic timing, especially Ray Liotta. If your looking for laughs, this movie is up your ally. Its in the same league as Kick-Ass and Bad Santa for sure. As for the critics… well… prior to the film's release, the stock market crashed. I blame the economy for this one. Times are a little bit better, and so is this movie. Give it a watch.

I've watched this film almost half a dozen times so I guess I am part of the Observe and Report cult. All you people giving it one, two star reviews...really? Are you that masochistic that you have to write a dissertation on something you hate? This is a great movie that knocks you on your ass with its dark humor and is indeed offensive. In fact, I would say if you're not offended in certain scenes, then there may be actually something wrong with you. Go see your shrink and talk about it. Despite that, there are also scenes that are moving and true to life which make this more than just some exercise in shoddy exploitation. At any rate, I love this movie and own a copy (if that says anything) Why you ask? Well, for one thing this is a great movie about a delusional man with bipolar disorder. The film has dream elements where he comes close to realizing his over the top ambitions only to be smacked in the face by societal regulations. On a serious note, there are a lot of young men who cannot fit into society and find a deeper purpose for living. The mall seems like the perfect metaphor for what has happened to American society. It is a boring, stultifying environment where banality is seen as the highest good and crass consumerism is the almighty God. Certain professions like security guard seem to attract nutballs, guys who dream of a police badge and a gun yet have to settle for chasing off skateboarders from the mall parking lot while carrying mace and at most a tazer. Now is the film an indictment of a crazed society and its shiftless youth or is it a nihilistic celebration of recklessness and mental illness? Even after watching it as many times as I have, I'm not sure I can come to any stunning conclusion. Its opened ended and while I know that can infuriate people looking for closure (and worse, a message) its the truth about this shocking and original film. Let me say that you owe it to yourself to check it out. When truly stupid comedies are abundant (usually ones about young men smoking pot and trying to get laid), its refreshing to see a film that dares to be wildly different in true punk rock fashion.

For some reason, this movie seems to be forgotten to Seth's other movies, and I can't understand why (or maybe I just have a thing for dark humor). At the same time, I understand it's not the type of movie everyone will like. Doesn't change my rating, though.