Review: Observe And Report

Observe And Report (2009)
starring: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Peña, Ray Liotta, Celia Weston
dir. Jody Hill

Just to let you know, I did laugh quite a few times at this film. The shocking climax is a riot and worthy of a certain level of respect. The movie outside of the laughs is just a mess. The pacing is jarring and never really settles in allowing for the non-sequiturs to work within the narrative. A shot of the mall cops riding down an elevator where they break the fourth wall may be funny, but doesn't fit. It ends up being more of a distraction than building support.

It also seems to follow standard narrative conventions a lot more than you would think. If you have a Betty and a Veronica, which one is Archie going to get together with in the end? Sure you can try and lead us in one direction, but once you introduce us to the nice girl, there is no way we aren't going to see love bloom by the end.

Rogen is great as this very disturbed delusional character, but within the world that is created, there is no way he'd have held onto the job as long as he has or the moment of redemption working the way it does. The redemption as a matter of fact, doesn't work at all. Writer/Director Jody Hill has to force an action that leads to the climax that left me scratching my head as to why he handled it that way. It's like he knew he was running out of time and had to get there somehow. The punchline was written before the joke and the film as a whole suffers for it.

This is not a film for everyone and there are going to be a lot of people who like it because it's not the typical Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) crap. Which is a good thing, the film gets major kudos for moving away from conformist comedy. I'd love to see more films like this as far as pushing comedy boundaries go. I'd just like to see a film that feels more cohesive and stays within the parameters it creates.

7.5 out of 10