OBSERVE AND REPORT review by Gary Dean Murray

There are those who worship the films of the 1970's as the second golden age for cinema. There are so many movies from that time that are praised and reviled as works of art in an era of revulsion. Films such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Dog Day Afternoon are all cinematic experiences that are loved and viewed again and again by film geeks. Quentin Tarantino has made the decade cool by perfectly imitating all that was good from those days. But when they are a mis-fire, the results can be painful. Such is the case with Observe and Report. Even though the story takes place today, it is firmly set in the mindset of a previous decade.

The tale is of Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), a mall security cop with more than a little of Travis Bickle in his brain. He is the head security guard at Forest Ridge Mall in New Mexico and takes his job very seriously. There is never a problem with beating down skateboarding kids. His main focus has been catching a flasher who roams the parking lots. He and his Asian assistants dream of carrying serious firearms as they patrol the food court.

Ronnie has a crush on Brandi (Anna Farris), a blond vixen who works the make-up counter. She is a party girl who seems to live every weekend passed out and passed on. But she becomes a victim of the flasher, and Ronnie vows to bring in the man who exposed himself to his unrequited love.

Worried about all the bad publicity, the mall manager brings in the real cops run by Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta). This man of the law is everything that Ronnie is not, meaning he is a man who gets and demands respect.



The story of Observe and Report is of the downward spiral of Ronnie, a medicated tough guy trying to do the right thing and win the wrong girl when the right girl is behind the counter at the food court. One gets the feeling very early on that Ronnie is just a few steps away from driving a taxi and lusting after Jodie Foster.

While Seth Rogen is a great comic actor, he just doesn't find the right beat here. His character is way too serious to the degree of being uncomfortable. Which may be the point - the character is supposed to be uncomfortable. Not only in his eyes, but our eyes as well. It grates against the back of the neck as Ronnie tries to make correct decisions for the wrong reasons. As one character says, “I thought this was going to be funny but it's just sad.” That statement sums up the film. There is a funny moment then a rough painful one.

But Anna Farris delivers yet another different comic role as the drunk party girl. In what could have been a one note performance, she gives the character some level of comedic equilibrium. She is a sad sack case, but oblivious to her own weakness. Or course, Ray Liotta just plays the Ray Liotta cop character that he has done about a thousand times before.

The film is ugly in so many ways. The characters are (excluding one) all ugly. Not physically but mentally. The world of Observe and Report is not one anyone would want to live in. Besides that, the technical aspects of this film are ugly. The lighting and sets are all awash in a sea of dirty brown. Though it may fit the mood of the piece, it also makes it hard to experience the film.

Some will praise Observe and Report much the way films from the 1970's are praised. But for every gem that was generated so many years, there were scads of wrecks. And this film reminds one more of the wrecks than the gems.

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