By Matt Brunson
Observe and Report, N.C. writer-director Jody Hill’s sophomore effort following the no-budget, no-laughs farce The Foot Fist Way, valiantly tries to combine the twisted trappings of a black comedy with the more accepted slapstick shenanigans of a mainstream outing. It’s extremely difficult to synchronize these approaches into one fluid viewing experience — Terry Zwigoff largely pulled it off with Bad Santa, but Hill never locates the proper balance that would make this more than just a hit-and-miss curio.
Seth Rogen, no stranger to controversial comedies, stars as Paul Blart — excuse me, Ronnie Barnhardt, a schlub who takes great pride in his work as the head of security at a popular mall. Unlike the congenial Blart, however, Ronnie is a disturbed individual, required to remain on his medication lest his destructive tendencies and delusions of grandeur take over. But Ronnie is largely oblivious to his own inner demons — he’s too busy lusting after a makeup counter tart (Anna Faris), cluelessly overlooking a sweet fast-food employee (Collette Wolfe), attempting to apprehend a flasher who’s been terrorizing the mall, and engaging in a war of words with a real detective (Ray Liotta).
Read the rest of Matt’s review here.
Watch the trailer here:
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2009.
