Not Funny

Observe & Report

Last night I saw Observe & Report and at the end of it I had nothing to say. I was in so much shock that I found it hard to articulate my feelings toward the movie. I was expecting something different. Not a total ha ha type movie, something a bit darker but this was not something I could have foreseen.

So there is Ronnie (Seth Rogen) who is the head of mall security. The guy is vulgar and delusional, completely crazy. He has a not-so-with-it group of security guards that he heads. There is Dennis (Michael Pena) who is Ronnie’s right hand man and the twins John and Matt Yuen who don’t seem completely there. The movie starts with a flasher accosting several mall patrons in the parking lot. Ronnie decides he will be the one to take him down. But when the Makeup counter girl Brandi (Anna Feris), a girl that Ronnie is completely infatuated with, is accosted by this pervert the police are called in. Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) is sent in to investigate.

This movie is twisted. I only laughed maybe once, possibly twice, but I can’t remember at what because the rest of the movie had me so slack-jawed at its insanity. The rest of the audience laughed at things that I found so overwhelmingly sad, pathetic or disgusting that their laughter almost offended me. The characters in this movie live in a world even crazier than our own. Everything they do is punctuated with violence.

I am not saying this is a bad movie. I am also not saying this is a good movie. Rogen, Faris, and Liotta play their parts well. They pull off their psychosis, their meanness, and their nonchalance perfectly. But there is nothing particularly redeeming about these people. You pity them because they don’t think there is anything wrong with themselves. The only person you feel anything for is Nell (Collette Wolfe), a sweet charming girl who works in the mall food court who has a crush on Ronnie.

The movie is also being marketed to the regular Seth Rogan crowd. That is like Punch Drunk Love being marketed to the regular Adam Sandler crowd. Some of them will get it but most of them will be disappointed at the lack of dick and fart jokes and slap stick humour.

I am not recommending this movie but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it. But be prepared that it is not going to be what you would expect. It is dark, incredibly dark, and a sad movie; you won’t feel light hearted at the end of this like with other comedies.

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