Observe & Report

Fuckin' Paul Blart Mall Cop. First it's trailer and stupid title show up and insult me with their mediocrity. Then the movie as a whole offends me with it's overall lack of effort. Then it has to go and make 150 million dollars, maybe even more by this point. Now it's pretty much tainted the release of Observe & Report. Every single review usually starts off with "Oh goody another mall cop movie." The one thing that I take comfort in is knowing there must have been so many people who took their kids and family to see this, thinking it was another nice mall cop movie. Then the actual movie must have just destroyed their faces when they watched it. Though even that pleasant thought is tainted by the knowledge that those same families then yelled at the theatre employees for it, instead of taking some fucking responsibility for being so stupid.

Anyway, the movie itself. The first trailers were ok, but it was word of mouth that really got me interested in this movie. I just kept hearing about how dark and fucked up it was and how all these studios didn't want to release the movie because of its ending. All of this really got me excited to watch it. I think all of that hype was a bit much though. The movie is definitely a dark comedy and it will certainly have a lot of people divided. However it's not nearly the fucked up movie I was expecting. 

It is cool to see Seth Rogen doing something different. There are moments when he falls into the usual mannerisms and dialogue, but this character is a pretty different beast than we're used to seeing with Rogen. He actually gets to cry and emote in a couple scenes and he does a damn good job. I was impressed. The man may be ready for some more dramatic roles, although I'm guessing the upcoming Funny People will expand on that a little more.

The supporting cast does great as well. Anna Faris is still sort of playing the bimbo role she usually does, only here that bimbo is a terrible fucking person. Usually she is stupid but likable, but here she is just a manipulative bitch. She does well too, so hopefully this means that she will be branching out as well. However we already knew she was good at different roles thanks to May and Lost in Translation, she just seems to have gotten away from that.

Ray Liotta, well it's just nice to see him in a movie again. It's great to hear that creepy laugh of his. Even when he laughs like this when he's playing a good guy you just can't help but think that he's seconds away from eating a small child or a puppy. 

People who watch this expecting a typical hilarious comedy are going to be surprised and angry. It's definitely funny, but not the usual humour I'm sure Rogen fans (and mall cop movie fans, which is a subgenre of fans that I never thought would exist, and I'm not that happy that they do) are used to. A lot of it is character based, a lot of it is awkward, and a lot of it is really fucking dark. For the most part though it works, although there are a few patches that are pretty laugh-free.

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. A lot of it comes down to the cast, but the humour works and I got oddly wrapped up in the story. You don't normally associate comedies with having a plot where you really have no clue what's going to happen or where it's going. This one really has that though. It's certainly not for everyone and I would be very hesitant about who I would recommend it to, but if you're looking for something different then I would give this one a shot.

7.5/10