7/10
Paul Blart: Mall Cop meets Taxi Driver
20 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Last week my date and I were looking for a movie to see and noticed Observe and Report, I remember just seeing one trailer for it, but still it was staring Seth Rogan, so we decided this was going to be the movie for the night. Now I did expect laughter, which believe me there is tons, but I did not expect a crazy movie like this one. Like I said, this is a mix of Taxi Driver and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, this year we got Paul Blart who is a very lovable security guard at the mall, despite how silly he was he was like the Forrest Gump of mall security. Imagine he had that evil brother that had that Travis Bickle side of him, pretty wicked. This is one of the craziest movies I have seen in a while, Seth Rogan wasn't kidding when he said that he never played a character like Ronnie Barnhardt. If you are looking for a movie like Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Knocked Up, this is definitely not for you, this is the darker side of the Apatow group.

The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt, makes it his mission to catch a "pervert" who is going around the mall parking lot flashing women. He is assisted by the Yuen twins, Charles and Dennis in his efforts. At home, Ronnie has a loving but dysfunctional relationship with his alcoholic mother. Ronnie's dream girl, Brandi 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, 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, in a jealous rage, Ronnie decides to take the steps necessary to become a real police officer. Ronnie obtains preliminary documents needed to become a police officer from a recruiting station, including forms for a physical and a psychological profile check. Ronnie arranges a date with Brandi, well more or less bugs the heck out of her to get a date. Date night, Brandi arrives home very late, forgetting the date, but she still goes on the date with Ronnie. She drinks a ton alcohol as well as several tablets of clonazepam which she took from Ronnie. Due to his failure of the psychological examination, because of his crazy behavior. The pills that he gave Brandi are for his bipolar disorder. You thought he was crazy before, just wait till you see what he does next.

So would I recommend Observe and Report? Yeah, it does have some big laughs, mainly from Rogan, Faris, Pena, and Ansari(who played a salesperson and Ronnie tormented with accusations). We even have Ray Liotta come in as the smug detective and he was perfect as usual as the crazy villain. This is a darker comedy, it's a certain taste, I mean we have Rogan practically date rape Faris in their sex scene together, granted she's conscious when it's going on, but she's clearly drunk and passed out from the drugs she took. Rogan also has some awesome fight scenes and just kicks butt in this movie. Over all I think this was a really movie, it's crazy and a bit much, but I like that Rogan took a different turn than the usual comedy that he releases every year. So just know what you're getting into if you're going to see this movie, it's creepy, but if you have an open mind to a dark comedy, then I think you'll have fun with it. Not to mention if you do or have worked at a mall, you will have a great appreciation for this movie.

7/10
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