by The Film Blogger

Created on: September 10, 2009

The Foot Fist Way director Jody Hill's first attempt at a mildly mainstream comedy, Observe and Report, is sure to, by its sheer conception, draw comparisons to Jim Carrey's criminally underrated dark comedy The Cable Guy. Both films feature a comedian who has recently made it big (this time substituting Carrey for Seth Rogen), and each subverts the expectations of their audience, in bringing something far different, and far more challenging to the table than, say, Dumb and Dumber, or Knocked Up.

Playing out like Paul Blart: Mall Cop for adults, the premise is unmistakably simple unhinged mall officer Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) discovers that a pervert has been exposing himself to the patrons of the mall, and surmises that if he can apprehend the pervert, he can create his own mythic stature as a hero, get the girl, and vastly improve his rather dull life. The comparisons to Taxi Driver are inevitable, and whilst Hill's treatment of the material certainly has its delightful moments, it simply never materialises into a consistent whole, nor goes far enough with its concept.

However, Rogen's leering, psychotic creep Barnhardt is the film's unqualified treat; Rogen demonstrates range beyond the funny fat man that many feared would cause him to become typecast, and he makes Kevin James' Paul Blart seem even more like an segment from Pee Wee's Playhouse. Like Blart, there's occasionally something likeable about this pathetic dolt, that his self-important crusade to justify his seemingly empty existence is so often outrageously futile, and in many ways, he does resemble a more light-hearted Travis Bickle.

Still, much of the film's undoing is its tonal inconsistency; Barnhardt's quest to charm beautiful mall patron Brandi (Anna Farris) verges into nervous territory laughter at its most controversial, and whilst this by itself is in no way problematic, the fact that we are then intermittently asked to root for this character seems astoundingly uneven. Furthermore, for a film that runs well under 90 minutes, the narrative takes a while to develop; the pervert storyline takes a backseat to Ronnie's squabbles with the FBI and his attempts to become a police officer. This wouldn't be too painful other than the fact that the audience is never convincingly asked to care for Ronnie. Rather, for the most part, he's a troubled man who needs a lot of help.

It's a shame that the film fumbles such an elementary part of the creative process, because there's a lot to like here;

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