Spring Break
'Observe' lacks ingenuity
Tyler Pietz
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Superimpose "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" over "Pineapple Express" with an extended homage to "Taxi Driver," and you'll get a pretty vivid portrait of "Observe and Report," the latest installment in the Apatow-gang franchise. The film, written and directed by Jody Hill, follows a delusional mall security guard on simultaneous missions both to stop a flasher who has been terrorizing the mall patrons and to win over his dream girl, a shallow party girl who works at the cosmetics counter in the same mall. Taking the level of vulgarity and violence to an entirely new level, "Observe" doesn't benefit from the good-natured plot lines that films such as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" used to offset their crude humor, which may make it significantly less palatable for some moviegoers.
Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is the "Head of Mall Security" at a suburban shopping center who suffers from severe delusions of grandeur. After a "pervert" begins exposing himself to customers in the parking lot of the mall, Barnhardt immediately appoints himself "Lead Investigator" on the case and enlists his crew of security disciples to help him. After the flasher returns and traumatizes Brandi (Anna Faris), the cosmetics clerk that Ronnie pines for, he finds himself up against Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), a jaded cop that seems more intent on finding his next lay than solving the case.
Obsessed with firearms and sharp, exotic weapons (displayed prominently on the wall above his bed), Ronnie doesn't hesitate to harass a mall vendor because he is an "Iraqi terrorist," taze an employee who protests a boot being locked on the wheel of his car, or to accost a group of teens skating in the parking lot, violently bludgeoning them with their own skateboards.
After a period of brief elation where he wins a coveted date with Brandi and vies to become an actual police officer (during which it is revealed that he is bipolar), Ronnie's life slowly begins to unravel as he realizes just how much he has deluded himself into believing that he is something more than a rent-a-cop. After losing everything but the questionable support of his alcoholic mother, the friendship of a crippled "born-again virgin" named Nell and his outdated Honda motorcycle, Ronnie completely dedicates himself to the cause of taking down the pervert.
For his second feature, Hill does a decent job commanding good-to-excellent performances from his cast and constructing a relatively coherent storyline. The acting is solid all around; Rogen, as usual, gives an outstanding performance as the borderline-insane Ronnie, Faris and Liotta, despite both being predictable casting choices, are surprisingly animated.
However, with the exception of a few hilarious scenes, the movie plays at times like a stereotypical Kevin James comedy doused in profanity and graphic violence solely for the purpose of making it relevant to the Apatow demographic. Unfortunately for Hill, this has already been done several times over, to greater effect, with at least a dozen other movies over the past few years. In spite of its shortcomings, "Observe and Report" is not a bad movie and will likely resonate with the moviegoers that have propped up the box office as of late.
Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is the "Head of Mall Security" at a suburban shopping center who suffers from severe delusions of grandeur. After a "pervert" begins exposing himself to customers in the parking lot of the mall, Barnhardt immediately appoints himself "Lead Investigator" on the case and enlists his crew of security disciples to help him. After the flasher returns and traumatizes Brandi (Anna Faris), the cosmetics clerk that Ronnie pines for, he finds himself up against Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), a jaded cop that seems more intent on finding his next lay than solving the case.
Obsessed with firearms and sharp, exotic weapons (displayed prominently on the wall above his bed), Ronnie doesn't hesitate to harass a mall vendor because he is an "Iraqi terrorist," taze an employee who protests a boot being locked on the wheel of his car, or to accost a group of teens skating in the parking lot, violently bludgeoning them with their own skateboards.
After a period of brief elation where he wins a coveted date with Brandi and vies to become an actual police officer (during which it is revealed that he is bipolar), Ronnie's life slowly begins to unravel as he realizes just how much he has deluded himself into believing that he is something more than a rent-a-cop. After losing everything but the questionable support of his alcoholic mother, the friendship of a crippled "born-again virgin" named Nell and his outdated Honda motorcycle, Ronnie completely dedicates himself to the cause of taking down the pervert.
For his second feature, Hill does a decent job commanding good-to-excellent performances from his cast and constructing a relatively coherent storyline. The acting is solid all around; Rogen, as usual, gives an outstanding performance as the borderline-insane Ronnie, Faris and Liotta, despite both being predictable casting choices, are surprisingly animated.
However, with the exception of a few hilarious scenes, the movie plays at times like a stereotypical Kevin James comedy doused in profanity and graphic violence solely for the purpose of making it relevant to the Apatow demographic. Unfortunately for Hill, this has already been done several times over, to greater effect, with at least a dozen other movies over the past few years. In spite of its shortcomings, "Observe and Report" is not a bad movie and will likely resonate with the moviegoers that have propped up the box office as of late.
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