Maybe I just didn't "get" it; yeah, that's it.
It is indeed a sad day for this society when a film like "Observe and Report" is marketed as a "comedy." And as such, it is the worst I have seen in several years ("Fool's Gold" comes immediately to mind). It's the dark side of "Paul Blart" mixed with elements of "Taxi Driver," "Fight Club" and "American Beauty," with none of the intrinsic interest or excellence of any of those films.
In fact, this makes "Running With Scissors" feel like a Marx Brothers movie, and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" look like "Citizen Kane. Sorry, it has to be said. It is one of the very few comedies in which I felt worse leaving the theater than I did entering.
It is a bloated, dismal, depressing, dysfunctional movie about a bloated, dismal, depressing, dysfunctional man, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogan) a bi-polar borderline psychotic security guard at a generic Los Angeles shopping mall. With his equally idiotic co-workers (Michael Pena, Jesse Plemons, John and Matt Yuen) he dreams of carrying lethal weapons, joining the police force and capturing a serial flasher.
When cosmetics salesperson Brandy (Anna Faris, who brings the same great sense of comedic timing here as she did in "House Bunny"), is flashed, Ronnie takes it upon his delusional self to become her protector and solve the crime; even though he has no skills for such an endeavor.
Plus, he's a major a-hole, to boot. He threatens vendors, is a blatant racist, terrorizes customers, violates security procedures and basically sexually harasses Brandy (even forcing her to go out with him and then date-rapes her). Yet, after all of this, he is not once reprimanded by his sappy superior.
Not to read too much into this, but what mall would keep a security guard around that a) has a restraining order out on him by one of the store owners and b) tasers some guy for no reason. Wouldn't there be major legal ramifications here? Or am I just a dope for asking? Of course, Ronnie lives in a hovel and has to deal with an alcoholic mother (Celia Weston), so maybe he's not totally at fault.
Acting as the any-man for this movie, Ray Liotta ("GoodFellas") is LAPD Det. Harrison, who plays cruel jokes on the idiot, such as leaving him in the middle of South Central and gleefully informing him that he was not accepted into the academy.
There's a good reason, too, as Ronnie blurts out to the police psychologist that he dreams of taking a shotgun and killing everyone. Yeah, I want a guy on the force to carry those plans around with him.
Then, just when we thought the humor could not get any lower, the film takes a weird and violent turn as Ronnie's best friend reveals a terrible secret and then he takes on the LAPD for some bizarre reason. All the while, a pretty girl at the doughnut counter, Nell (Collette Wolfe), is becoming more attracted to the crazed loser (another example of "reel" life vs. "real" life).
Most of the laughs here were nervous giggles as opposed to the out-and-out belly ones most movies of this ilk illicit. I found myself smiling during just two short scenes; not the greatest endorsement for such a genre. Once again proving that F-bombs - even repeated over and over - or laughing at retarded people do not necessarily make a great comedy.
Marketed as a light, vulgar laugh-fest in the vein of "Role Models" and "I Love You, Man," this dark effort is a truly awful film in every sense of the word, even though director Josh Hill ("The Foot Fist Way") attempts to populate it with eccentric, Jarmusian characters. Most of these come off like his leading man, inept, moronic, violent and a complete waste of time.
Just like the 86 minutes I spent watching this drivel.
It is indeed a sad day for this society when a film like "Observe and Report" is marketed as a "comedy." And as such, it is the worst I have seen in several years ("Fool's Gold" comes immediately to mind). It's the dark side of "Paul Blart" mixed with elements of "Taxi Driver," "Fight Club" and "American Beauty," with none of the intrinsic interest or excellence of any of those films.
In fact, this makes "Running With Scissors" feel like a Marx Brothers movie, and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" look like "Citizen Kane. Sorry, it has to be said. It is one of the very few comedies in which I felt worse leaving the theater than I did entering.
It is a bloated, dismal, depressing, dysfunctional movie about a bloated, dismal, depressing, dysfunctional man, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogan) a bi-polar borderline psychotic security guard at a generic Los Angeles shopping mall. With his equally idiotic co-workers (Michael Pena, Jesse Plemons, John and Matt Yuen) he dreams of carrying lethal weapons, joining the police force and capturing a serial flasher.
When cosmetics salesperson Brandy (Anna Faris, who brings the same great sense of comedic timing here as she did in "House Bunny"), is flashed, Ronnie takes it upon his delusional self to become her protector and solve the crime; even though he has no skills for such an endeavor.
Plus, he's a major a-hole, to boot. He threatens vendors, is a blatant racist, terrorizes customers, violates security procedures and basically sexually harasses Brandy (even forcing her to go out with him and then date-rapes her). Yet, after all of this, he is not once reprimanded by his sappy superior.
Not to read too much into this, but what mall would keep a security guard around that a) has a restraining order out on him by one of the store owners and b) tasers some guy for no reason. Wouldn't there be major legal ramifications here? Or am I just a dope for asking? Of course, Ronnie lives in a hovel and has to deal with an alcoholic mother (Celia Weston), so maybe he's not totally at fault.
Acting as the any-man for this movie, Ray Liotta ("GoodFellas") is LAPD Det. Harrison, who plays cruel jokes on the idiot, such as leaving him in the middle of South Central and gleefully informing him that he was not accepted into the academy.
There's a good reason, too, as Ronnie blurts out to the police psychologist that he dreams of taking a shotgun and killing everyone. Yeah, I want a guy on the force to carry those plans around with him.
Then, just when we thought the humor could not get any lower, the film takes a weird and violent turn as Ronnie's best friend reveals a terrible secret and then he takes on the LAPD for some bizarre reason. All the while, a pretty girl at the doughnut counter, Nell (Collette Wolfe), is becoming more attracted to the crazed loser (another example of "reel" life vs. "real" life).
Most of the laughs here were nervous giggles as opposed to the out-and-out belly ones most movies of this ilk illicit. I found myself smiling during just two short scenes; not the greatest endorsement for such a genre. Once again proving that F-bombs - even repeated over and over - or laughing at retarded people do not necessarily make a great comedy.
Marketed as a light, vulgar laugh-fest in the vein of "Role Models" and "I Love You, Man," this dark effort is a truly awful film in every sense of the word, even though director Josh Hill ("The Foot Fist Way") attempts to populate it with eccentric, Jarmusian characters. Most of these come off like his leading man, inept, moronic, violent and a complete waste of time.
Just like the 86 minutes I spent watching this drivel.