Observe and Report

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Directed by: Jody Hill

The Skinny: The director of the criminally underrated The Foot Fist Way returns with the twisted story of mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen)—a headcase valiantly defending his self-proclaimed kingdom from perverts, shoplifters, and even the police. Ronnie only wants three things in life: the love of make-up counter ditz Brandi (Anna Faris), the respect of grizzled police detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), and a gun.

The Good: First of all, this is not a cuddly Seth Rogen movie like Knocked Up or Pineapple Express. If you're going in expecting him to be the lovable stoner bear, you might want to just go home and wait for Paul Blart to come out on DVD. Ronnie Barnhardt is, at best, an ignorant asshole. At worst, he's a walking time bomb of gun fetishism and rage. He's also fucking hilarious. Not likeable, but hilarious. Make no mistake, O&R is very funny, but in that "Holy shit I can't believe I'm laughing at this" kind of way. The movie milks head-shaking laughs from alcoholism, drug abuse, intense violence, the handicapped, and even borderline date rape for crying out loud.

The Bad: No one is mining new territory here. Hill presents another rural loser in serious denial (albeit a much more dangerous one) like Foot Fist's Fred Simmons, Faris plays another brainless tart (she's funny, but you've seen this before), and Liotta scowls and screams a lot. It all works and it all fits, but you get the sense there's not a lot of new ground being broken here.

The New Big Kahuna Burger: The movie mall's resident "classy" restaurant is Captain O'Landers, the same franchise frequented by Simmons in Foot Fist Way.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? This is probably your best option this weekend. Go see it.

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