Dir. Jody Hill, US, 2009, 86 mins
Cast: Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Collette Wolfe
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Guaranteed to be uttered during Jody Hill's fantastic Observe and Report is the phrase “wrong… that was soooooooooo wrong”. This will have followed a bout of unexpected laughter. This won't just be once either. It could be when Ronnie (Rogen) kisses a paralytic post-vomiting Brandi (Faris), after declaring “I accept you”, or when, high on a combination of heroin and cocaine, our rotund security cop proceeds to bash the hell out of a group of skateboarding kids. If you thought Bad Santa was dark, this one is lights out, back of the cave pitch black, and also weirdly hilarious.
Ronnie Barnhardt is a security cop at a local mall. Sound familiar? This isn't “Paul Blart: Die Harder” though, mainly because Ronnie would shoot the wheels out of Kevin James' stupid little scooter thing.
Driven to pursue a career with the police force in a delusional attempt to protect his unrequited love Brandi from a serial flasher, Ronnie starts a full-scale war with local Detective Harrison (Liotta) to prove his worth.
There is much to love and loathe in Observe and Report , but at the forefront is a fantastic turn from Rogan. It's turning into quite a month for the Apatow muse, having been on cruise control for the majority of his short career, playing the “guffawing stoner schlub” to tedious effect in the likes of Pineapple Express and Knocked Up . He then turned in his best performance as a blue blob in Dreamworks' Monsters V Aliens , and now this. For a surprisingly brutal film, it's a role with cracks of humanity thus far unseen. Ronnie lives with and cares for his alcoholic mother and, although his actions are not always rational, the motivation behind them is understandable. It's great credit to the screenwriters and Rogan that Ronnie becomes a true anti-hero despite his initial repulsiveness.
His is not the only fine performance. Liotta sends himself up brilliantly as the hard-ass Detective and Pena (World Trade Center), although channelling Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite , is revelatory in a comedic role. All of the characters are stretched to near caricature, but remain incredibly likeable.
Observe and Report is head and shoulders above any comedy released so far in 2009. It teeters on the line of taste so many times and isn't for everybody (understatement of the year), but it also challenges formulaic conventions to the point of ridiculousness and succeeds on every single level.
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