Observe and Report
PLOT:
An anonymous flasher exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. He is assisted by Charles and Dennis, and the Yuen twins, in his efforts.
Ronnie’s dream girl, Brandi (Anna Faris) who works a mall make-up counter, is flashed the next day, becoming distraught over the situation. Ronnie tries to comfort her until a police officer, Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), arrives and takes over Ronnie’s palliative role. Ronnie feels threatened by this and is upset that his boss allowed an outside person to infringe on his search for the offender.
The criminal activity at the mall continues, as a masked person is seen robbing a shoe store, causing property damage. Detective Harrison is once again called in to investigate, his efforts hindered by Ronnie, who thinks that an Iraqi shopkeeper in the mall is the thief, based only on the fact that he is Iraqi. In response, Harrison curses out Ronnie during a meeting with Ronnie’s superior, and Ronnie decides to take the steps necessary to become a real police officer.
As part of his preparations, Ronnie decides to ride along with Detective Harrison. Harrison, fed up with Ronnie, tricks him into walking into the most dangerous part of town, and drives off. Ronnie then confronts and subsequently subdues several drug dealers, victoriously returning to the police station with a dealer’s son and thanking the detective for the opportunity to prove himself. Emboldened, Ronnie arranges a date with Brandi. On their date, Brandi consumes a large quantity of alcohol as well as several tablets of clonazepam which she took from Ronnie. Ronnie takes her home and has sex with her while she is unconscious.
Ronnie fails the psychological examination for the police officer job. Nell (Collette Wolfe), a friendly food court worker, explains to him that her boss Roger and another female employee make fun of Nell for having her leg in a cast, leading Ronnie to threaten the two after giving Roger a severe beating. Depressed, he is coerced by Dennis to spend the day doing a wide variety of drugs and assaulting skateboarding teenagers. At the end of the day, Ronnie finds out that Dennis was the shoe thief, and that he has been stealing from the mall for quite some time. Ronnie is stunned and, after a brief argument, is knocked unconscious from behind by Dennis, who then flees to Mexico.
Ronnie decides to go “undercover” in order to catch the flasher. At night he sees Harrison having sex with Brandi in his cruiser, and he confronts her in front of onlookers at the mall the next day, damaging mall property in the process. Ronnie refuses to leave the mall and police are called in. Ronnie fights off many officers before being beaten in a fist fight with Harrison.
After a brief time in jail, and once his wounds heal, Ronnie returns to the mall, although now no longer as a security guard. He is approached by Nell back on both legs, and she kisses him to console him. Interrupting their romantic moment, the pervert flashes Nell and Ronnie and runs off, exposing himself to many other mall patrons. Ronnie, pursuing the flasher in a slow-motion sequence that includes him punching the Iraqi clerk from previously in the face, retrieves a gun from a closet and shoots the flasher as he approaches Brandi. Though she thanks him, Ronnie rejects her for sleeping with Harrison.
Refusing the flasher an ambulance, Ronnie takes him to the police station, impressing and insulting the officers who had previously ridiculed him. A victorious Ronnie is then interviewed with the other security guards and he is accompanied by Nell, who is now his new girlfriend, and he returns back to his job as the head of mall security.
REVIEW:
Remember when Seth Rogen was still a chubby guy? Seems like he was much more likable back then compared to now when he’ slimmed down and just doesn’t seem like the same person, not to mention he isn’t as funny, for whatever reason. Observe and Report is a vehicle for Rogen in which he plays a mall security cop…excuse me, the head of mall security.
Does the premise sound vaguely familiar? Maybe you’re thinking of Paul Blart: Mall Cop? These are two totally different films, but they both have mall cops and were released roughly around the same time. How many film about mall cops can you name?
I didn’t love this film. Sure, it had some funny moments, and didn’t get all preachy/dramatic at the end the way so many comedies tend to do these days, but it just didn’t work for me. The jokes seemed a bit forced. Rogen comes off as annoying. There were parts of the film where I honestly thought he was behind some of the crimes or would turn out ot be the flasher. On top of that the ultra hot Anna Faris is wasted here. Sure, she’s a delicious piece of eye candy, but if you’re going to get a hot comedic actress like her to star in your picture, have the good sense to let her do her thing, not just sit there taking Tequila shots and looking like a racoon for most of her scenes.
There are countless other reasons I could list for why this film just isn’t that great and won’t be making any top lists of mine. Having said that, it’s not a total waste of time. I think if I were to watch it again, I may like it a little more, but as of this one viewing, I just wasn’t feeling it. I’m not trying to be a hater, but where Paul Blart: Mall Cop succeeded, Observe and Report fails.
2 out of 5 stars
