The thin line between love and hate isn't as thin as we once thought... and it's blue, thanks to recent mall cop movies Paul Blart: Mall Cop with Kevin James and more recently Observe and Report with Seth Rogen. Malls have become a credit card frenzy in an undercover park 'n shop gold mine, where you can find just about anything, whether you're shopping for jewelry, a laptop or a new girlfriend. No wonder it has also become a hot spot for petty crime! Drugs cost money, and if you can't hold down a part-time job, you've got to do a little shopping of your own.
Mall operators know the American dream is rags-to-riches (not the other way around) and that's why they need an elite team of equally adept losers to observe and report in the spirit of "it takes one to know one". Real cops have guns, mall cops have tazers, real cops have lives, mall cops don't. The cop stripper outfits, the aloof look of authority, the irritating presence... it's no wonder Americans have developed a love/hate relationship with these clowns of mall justice. This same contempt is expressed in the comedy of Observe and Report. Writer-director, Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way) said that his initial inspiration for Observe and Report was to make a comedic version of Taxi Driver(1976), and to this end he succeeds, although (gulp) no one ever said it was going to be pretty!?
Seth Rogen positions himself as Ronnie Barnhardt, the wannabe cop, who has hit the glass ceiling of mall security. His incompetence is perfectly balanced so that he provides just enough security to hold down a job and hit on the object of his affection, a local beautician (Faris). However, his quiet suburban life is turned upside down when a local "pervert" starts doing some freelance flashing. Newspapers lock-in on the incident and its not long before the mall's safety is brought into question. Detective Harrison (Liotta) is sent to investigate and a struggle for superiority ensues as Barnhardt tries to throw his "King of the Mall" weight around.
Observe and Report has locked onto a tragic hero, and tragedy is an important component of comedy. The mall cop's plight and inferiority complex are loaded with comic material and that's probably why the unsung hero's song had to be heard. Observe and Report's writer-director, Jody Hill (not to be confused with Jonah Hill), saw that the world of mall security had potential for the comedy of The Cable Guy and the darkness of Taxi Driver. This is probably where Observe and Report faltered, resulting in lukewarm indecision somewhere between the paths of these movies or Napoleon Dynamite and One Hour Photo. The performances make Observe and Report watchable as Rogen is fully committed to his role and more than up the task, supported by Ray Liotta, Ana Faris and Michael Peña.
The cast's strength helps prop the sagging comedy up, while simultaneously propelling the heavier, darker themes at play. If date rape, full frontal nudity and police brutality can be funny, then we truly are living in sad times. This darkness is at the heart of the American psyche in post 9/11, just like post-Vietnam 1970s. Paranoia, fear, uncertainty and darkness rear their ugly head in Observe and Report, making it cathartic for some viewers and offensive to others. Observe and Report powers itself with mean-spirited vulgar language and psychotic comedy, which is neither clever nor funny. The Big Lebowski dropped f-bombs like punctuation and still remained engaging and funny, while Observe and Report is laden with bad language (even more than Taxi Driver) in an attempt to be cool, edgy and controversial.
So it remains lost in the fat blue line, detested by some and adored by others. The film's brilliance lies in its darkness, a complete opposite to the feel-good Die Hard spoof of Paul Blart: Mall Cop. However, this darkness threatens to tear the film apart at its seams with a sinister agenda, explosive comedy and a lack of redeeming characters. If you enjoyed The Cable Guy, you'll have a good idea of just how vindictive Observe and Report's comedy can get... except Carrey was able to create sympathy for his character, while Rogen generates as much sympathy as a rampant postal worker with a machine gun.
Observe and Report skipped a cinema release in South Africa, partly because of its similarities and timing with Paul Blart: Mall Cop and possibly took a straight-to-DVD route to appease its limited cult audience. While the film does feel like a blend of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taxi Driver, it fails to command the comedic or dramatic aspects of either genre, resulting in a middling production with a very narrow and psychotic target audience. You may appreciate what Jody Hill had in mind, but you won't enjoy it - at least not as much as Paul Blart's light-hearted '90s-style action comedy.
One rendition of Observe and Report's movie poster summed the film up well and reads "Observe and report this fat, creepy mall cop who rapes a chick, isn't funny and who has no redeeming qualities. Oh, and tons of cocks." All in all, it's a risky choice for movie night, a good excuse to just make out and an ugly movie to sit through... unless of course you actually like being angry or frustrated.
The bottom line: Butt-ugly.
