Observe and Report is a dark comedy about a delusional mall security guard on the quest for love, a thief, and a pervert flasher sexually assaulting women in the parking lot.
The movie proves to be humorous, but entirely unmemorable. The movie's comedy is based almost entirely on site gags and swear words. The fuck-o-meter scaled pretty fucking high on this movie.
The leading ladies really shined though. No, not Anna Farris, who probably served her most annoying performance yet. Rogen's mother, played by Celia Weston, and Nell, the coffee shop clerk, played by Collete Wolfe. Weston plays an endearing alcoholic mother who was equal parts slapstick and heart-warming. A truly nice written speech given by her to Rogen as inspiration was surprisingly effective. Wolfe is a super adorable new comer, playing the quintessential ugly duckling character, who by the end is a very attractive women, with an infectious smile and an actual ability to act beyond goofy quirk.
There are obvious similarities between Rogen's Ronnie and Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver fame. They both see themselves as some kind of moral boundary, and they see the world as black and white. But the similarities are fairly spoonfed. The only way it could become more clear is if Ronnie actually talked about how awesome Bickle is or if somebody said, "Dude, you're just like Taxi Driver."
Nevertheless, I was mildly entertained. The site gags are semi-effective. The two action scenes were much more impressive than such a movie warranted really. But the film lacked substance and any longstanding, original jokes. Much of it relied on shock value, including the new trend of spotlighting male genitalia, this one upping the ante of both Walk Hard and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, with an ending chase sequence with a naked man running and slow motion.
And by the way, Ray Liotta needs a damn comeback.
5/10. I laughed but I wouldn't recommend it.
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