His Take/Her Take: Observe And Report

Worth the price of admission, or a waste of time? Brian McKechnie and Suzanne Ellis offer you their take on the latest movies hitting screens. Read their reviews every Friday, exclusively on CityNews.ca.

Let Brian and Suzanne know what you think of His Take/Her Take via email at brian.mckechnie@citynews.ca or suzanne.ellis@citynews.ca .

OBSERVE AND REPORT

Rated R
Cast: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta
Directed by: Jody Hill
Official Site IMDb

When a flasher is on the loose at the Forest Ridge Mall overzealous head of security Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) jumps into action to catch the pervert before Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) can.

Brian’s Take

*** out of 5 stars

Observe and Report is a sick, twisted, surreal comedy that is more influenced by the films of John Waters than Judd Apatow. It’s hard to recommend to the masses and I think that’s because writer/director Jody Hill wasn’t making this for the masses. This is South Park humour and the audience he was making it for are going to get it and laugh at the absurdity (the way they did for his last film The Foot Fist Way). When it’s not laugh-out-loud funny it’s either brutally violent or just plain sick. Either way it’s a fun 85-minute ride nonetheless.

Forget the story – it’s the cast that makes this movie work. Seth Rogen’s head of mall security Ronnie Barnhardt is dark and bipolar and takes things to the extreme to get the job done (he’s no Paul Blart). If he needs to beat up skateboarding kids, kill a crack dealer or Taser someone he will. Underneath it all he’s a sweet guy though and Rogen pulls off the two sides just fine. Anna Faris has to be one of the greatest sports in Hollywood. Some of the things she’s had to do on-screen over the years are horrendous (in Observe and Report she gets to throw up while having drunk sex). The one problem I had with her character is that they made her look horrible (those lips!). Making her ugly didn’t add to the laughs and only took away from the film. Ray Liotta is Ray Liotta and could pull off the part of the tough, angry Detective Harrison in his sleep. The one true stand-out for me was Michael Peña. For a guy who has starred in some of the most dramatic movies over the years ( Babel, Million Dollar Baby, Lions for Lambs) he is really funny as the lisping security guard Dennis. Hopefully we’ll see him do comedy again in the future.

The laws of Hollywood have been kicked to the curb in Observe and Report. For those looking for a light comedy you might be very shocked and disgusted (the R rating could easily have been an NC-17. There’s a police beating straight out of Natural Born Killers, someone shoots heroin at one point and the flasher does show all). This is the perfect movie to watch while having some beers with your buddies though and I expect it will be a huge cult hit (especially if screened at midnight along with Pink Flamingos). If you’re looking for something different and keep an open mind — you just might find something special in Observe and Report.

Suzanne’s Take

* out of 5 stars

When does an 86-minute-film feel like a 186-minute-film?

When it’s Seth Rogen’s new flick, Observe and Report.

I like to think that I have a pretty broad sense of humour, but I found precious little to laugh at in this dark comedy about a mall cop with delusions of grandeur.

Rogen plays Ronnie Barnhardt, the overzealous head of security at Forest Ridge Mall. He spends his days mooning over vacuous cosmetics counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris), Tasering with abandon to make up for the fact that he can’t carry a gun, cashing in on free coffees from the food court, and chastising his fellow guards for their apparent ineptitude. Ronnie also spouts racist remarks and frequently lies in a pathetic attempt to boost others’ opinion of him, usually having the opposite effect. In short, the normally likeable Rogen succeeds in being completely detestable. Actually, that’s not true. You’d detest him if you didn’t feel so sorry for him.

When a flasher starts showing up at the mall and harassing the shoppers, Ronnie makes it his personal mission to bring the guy to justice by any means necessary. When his investigative work comes up short, the police, led by Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), are called in to solve the case. But the bipolar Ronnie doesn’t take this news well – he feels the cops are invading his turf and Harrison quickly becomes his arch enemy. He’s determined to get to the flasher first, and he’ll thwart Harrison at every turn if he has to.

I thought going in that Observe and Report, from writer-director Jody Hill, might be a funnier version of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, the surprise Kevin James hit which I admit I haven’t seen. But I now have a hard time believing Paul Blart could be worse – some of the moments in Observe and Report were downright cruel, not to mention uncomfortable to watch. The scenes with Ronnie and his alcoholic mom (Celia Weston) were the worst, featuring some of the film’s most mean-spirited jokes (at one point she tells him it’s his fault his dad left home).

This kind of comedy – laughing at other people’s foibles – can be done well, if we find something to like in the character being mocked, or at least we love to hate them. With Ronnie, neither applies. He’s unlikeable, but he’s too sad and pathetic to hate. At the end of it all you’re left wishing you hadn’t spent so long in his company.

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: Hunger, Two Lovers, Hannah Montana: The Movie, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Tulpan, Dragonball: Evolution

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Top image: Seth Rogen as Ronnie Barnhardt. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

Middle image: Michael Peña as Dennis. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.