That would be a better title for this movie. I'm sure you've probably heard that comparison before and you will probably continue to hear it because it is extremely accurate. I went into this movie expecting a dark, angry comedy. I got the dark and angry. The comedy fell woefully short. I don't believe I laughed once during the movie. Every scene that is supposed to be comedic falls flat and drags on and on and on. The characters that are supposed to be comedic are just annoying (the drunk mother, the slutty cosmetic girl, the lisping sidekick). I actually found myself checking my watch during the movie to see how much more I had to endure. All of this could have been redeemed if the filmmakers had just stuck the landing. The ending is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen and completely ignores any form of reality, even the one set up in the film. Our delusional Mall Cop returns to the mall after being fired for beating up real police officers and is flashed by the mall pervert. After an overlong slow motion chase Travis Bickle wannabe takes a short cut and shoots the flasher at near point blank range. He then refuses to call paramedics for the gravely wounded perv opting instead to take him to the police station in his security guard golf cart. At the police station Bickle marches the bleeding and still naked perv past about a dozen uniformed officers and detectives to claim his moment of glory for catching the perv when the cops couldn't and then walks away and gets rehired as head of mall security. Ridiculous. Avoid this, watch Taxi Driver instead. It avoids lame attempts a comedy opting instead to be a real character study of a very sick and damaged individual.
Review of Observe and Report
