VoML Post-film Report: Observe and Report (2009)

TOP BILLED ACTORS
Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Anna Faris, Jesse Plemons, Dan Bakkedahl, Celia Weston, John Yuen, Matt Yuen, Collette Wolfe

DIRECTOR
Jody Hill

3 POSITIVES

• The Rogen/Liotta rent-a-cop/real cop rivalry is great to watch. Rogan's turn as Ronnie Barnhardt is both hilarious and disturbing at the same time while Liotta does well stepping away from drama, into the realm of comedy. Absolutely loved the jurisdiction battle in the mall director's office.
  
• Jesse Plemons of Friday Night Lights fame (the TV show, not the movie) pretty much plays the same person as he does on the show but he manages to steal a few scenes from Pena and Rogen. Plemons plays Charles, a budding mall cop who was at first reluctant to step into Rogen's delusional world. For better or worse, he eventually proves to be a good soldier.
• Good comedies die when bad cameos rear their ugly heads. This film went for quality over quantity. The always good Danny McBride is brilliant as a drug dealer who catches Ronnie in the wrong part of town and Aziz Ansari kills as a mall kiosk rep with a restraining order out on Ronnie. The "fuck you" give and take reminded me of Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone's "cool beans" riff in Hot Rod.
  

3 NEGATIVES

• The absence of any kind of consequence for one's actions is deafening. Ronnie assaults a shop owner, a group of teenage skateboarders, and 10-20 cops with little to no consequence while a portly man in a trench coat shows his goods (questionable usage in this case) to mall goers and is taken care of with extreme prejudice.
• I couldn't decide whether or not Ronnie's mother (played by Celia Weston) was supposed to be funny or not. I suspect she was. I probably laughed at the beginning of the film but became more and more depressed with every minute of screen time she garnered. Drunk characters can certainly make for easy laughs but an alcoholic mother to a bipolar son with serious delusions of grandeur does a lot to erase smiles.
• I understand Anna Faris' act and it was good in Scary Movie but spoof comedy Anna Faris doesn't seem any different than romantic comedy Anna Faris which isn't any different than black comedy Anna Faris. They are all incredibly over the top. Isn't there something wrong with that?
  

BEST PERFORMANCE
Seth Rogen as Ronnie Barnhardt

MOST UNDERRATED PERFORMANCE
Ray Liotta as Detective Harrison, the officer assigned to bring down the serial flasher.

HEY, IT'S THAT GUY...
The previously mentioned Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, Foot Fist Way, Eastbound and Down), Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights) and Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation)

REMINDED ME OF...
Punch Drunk Love, Taxi Driver, Saving Silverman, Mallrats...

WOULD I PURCHASE IT? - No

WOULD I WATCH IT IF I CAME ACROSS IT ON CABLE? - Yes

I WILL GIVE IT A...

-PSon