Reviews & Previews - Observe and Report

Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 06:00 PM

Observe and Report

By: S. Tran

Starring: Seth Rogan, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris
Directed By: Jody Hill
Rated: R

Rowdy Fun

If "I Love You Man" was a good example of a funny yet reserved comedy, then "Observe and Report" is probably the year's first good slapstick. While it loses some steam in the last third of the film there are enough good laughs throughout to entertain fans of this kind of humour.

Rogan plays Ronnie, a mall security officer with delusions of grandeur, a hero complex and a penchant for dishing out beatings. When a flasher exposes himself to Brandi (Farris) a makeup counter girl that Ronnie lusts after, he sees it as his chance to prove himself. Unfortunately, the detective assigned to the case (Liotta) has little time for Ronnie's often funny "police work" and the two vie for the affections of Brandi and compete to capture the flasher.

The movie works so well because there is no pretense by anyone involved that it is anything more than a raunchy comedy. Except for Liotta, who has the unenviable job of playing the straight man, everyone plays this for laughs and they seem like they had a good time making the movie. The humour is frat boy kind of stuff but its done well and if you like people getting bashed over the head with various objects while swearing in creative ways this will make you laugh.

Rogan is both funny and a little creepy as the bi-polar Ronnie, who, to be honest, could be quite scary if he were a character in a serious film. But as the foul mouthed, earnest, yet delusional, mall cop he had the audience laughing throughout the movie.

Farris is also very good playing yet another clueless ditz. She seems to have a lock on these kinds of roles and to her credit she does a great job with them. She kind of reminds me of a female version of Will Farrell in the way she makes almost all her lines seem funny just with her over the top delivery.

The movie does get a little strange in the last 20 minutes or so as it seemed to change course a bit. It was a little jarring to me but not so much that it ruined the film. If you just want an funny, raw comedy you should check this out. It won't be for everyone but it works well for its fans.

3 and a half out of 5 stars.