A pattern is emerging in Jody Hill's young career. He makes comedies about despicable men who make irrational decisions and are internally boiling with rage.
Hill's style encapsulates the grungy irreverence of early Kevin Smith revitalized by Judd Apatow's redefining of the genre. Comparisons were meant to be made.
The black-as-night concept comedy Observe and Report is built on the derivative, whether trying to recapture the estranged Taxi Driver or thwarting one's expectations of the modern R-rated comedy. Hill celebrates the brooding anti-hero (as he did in The Foot Fist Way and the HBO show Eastbound and Down), and he wants to be revered by movie buffs as an innovator. There are riotous one-liners and visual gags, but what sets this film apart is its analysis of the deranged Ronnie Barnhardt.
Seth Rogen plays Barnhardt, a pill-popping, bipolar mall security guard who lives with his fall-down-drunk mother. He fantasizes that catching a mystery pervert flashing people in the mall parking lot will make him a hero and enlists his mall cop buddies for backup. Meanwhile, he takes tests to gain entry into the police academy.
Although it isn't mentioned until halfway through that Ronnie has bipolar disorder, it's necessary to justify his delusions and actions. Ronnie says, "I used to think I was the only thing between the light and the darkness."
The film makes light of his mental illness. He beats up skateboarding kids, disrespects mall goers and commits some form of date rape with gussied makeup clerk Brandi (Anna Faris). Some jokes are hilarious, but the hit-or-miss quotient is a spotty mess.
He clashes with an equally hot-headed police officer played by Ray Liotta, sleepwalking through an irritating, tired routine.
Painted as a caricatured amalgam of a mama's boy and a wannabe womanizer, Ronnie is never quite real enough for an audience to identify or sympathize with his loneliness and alienation.
The character of Ronnie's alcoholic mother was intended to add depth to the central character arc, but their scenes together are static and dull. In her first scene, she rolls out of her chair and passes out on the floor while Ronnie is talking to her. Their fractured relationship is not reconciled in an effective way.
The real-life sociology and the fantastic exaggeration present in certain scenes do not mix and, more often than not, ooze shock value over substance. A few scenes contain violence, but it's a brutal kind of bloodshed that's shocking in its immediacy.
There is a precision in Hill's filmmaking, featuring calculated shots and crisp cinematography that enhance the mantra of this atypical comedy. The angles and close-ups on Ronnie certainly indicate there is a sickness brewing inside him.
For black comedy fans, this is a bold step; the story just isn't well told. Some viewers should know what they're getting into with this because it could be potentially disturbing to a person entering blind.
Dark comedy, often deemed box office coal, is among the hardest subgenres to pull off, let alone captivate a mainstream audience. It's rare that Warner Bros. would back such an unconventional farce, but the presence of breadwinner Rogen helps. It's an edgy film, and the aftertaste, whether good or bad, will stick around for a little while.
The ambition of the filmmakers and commitment of Rogen to the character vindicates the production overall despite inconsistent humor and a failed attempt at dramatizing Ronnie's home life.
Observe and Report is an experiment with hardnosed bleakness and cruelty in a format where it usually doesn't fly. Here it doesn't fly, but it throws enough at you to make you take notice.
Grade: C
