Separate movie companies sometimes end up with two similarly-themed stories in production at the same time. Frequent movie-goers may remember the summer of the two “asteroid hitting the Earth” films, “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact.” The same thing occurred this year with Hollywood’s interest in “mall security comedies,” February’s “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and April’s “Observe & Report.” While “Paul Blart” cornered the family market, Seth Rogan’s R-rated comedy seeks the fans of adult humor. In many ways “Observe & Report” is the superior comedy, with more opportunities for humor and a better cast. But Kevin James never allowed Paul Blart to get too raunchy, alienating his core audience; while “Observe & Report” often takes the joke too far, beyond laughter to something distasteful.
Rogan stars as Ronnie, the head of security at a suburban mall. He demands respect at his workplace and receives it from his security staff who practically worship him. Ronnie’s cocky attitude only gets him so far with the make-up counter hottie Brandi (Anna Farris; “The House Bunny”), who thinks the guy’s a joke. When a flasher threatens the mall, invading Brandi’s personal space, Ronnie takes this as his opportunity to prove himself. An investigating detective named Harrison (Ray Liotta; “Identity”) threatens to take Ronnie’s big break away from him but the head of security has other plans.
The writer-director of the indie sensation “The Fist Foot Way,” Jody Hill, continues in duel roles for “Observe & Report.” While Hill generally gets the comedic tone right in this mall cop film, a few times nearing the finale, the movie takes some strange detours. The arrogant with power but otherwise law-abiding Ronnie, after questioning his methods, unexpectedly decides to experiment with heavy drug use. Too far. Ronnie tries going undercover to find the serial flasher and goes so deep that he doesn’t want to leave the mall anymore. Too far. Rude humor can be diluted and minimized to keep it from becoming offensive when a director knows where the line of good taste is. “Superbad” and “I Love You, Man” manage to walk that line, while “Observe & Report” trips over it too many times.
Rogan is a wonderful lead, portraying the everyman and continuing his precision comic timing. I was happy to see that Ronnie was at least capable of the position he held as security guard, whereas Paul Blart too often came across as pathetic. Farris is very funny in her primary scene where she’s doing shots at a restaurant, but her character doesn’t have anything left to do for the rest of the film. The burgeoning relationship between Ronnie and Brandi isn’t allowed adequate time to grow or wilt, it just fades into the background. Another potential romantic interest, Nell, is refreshingly sweet and earnest in contrast to the other characters in the movie. The scenes Nell shares with Ronnie are authentically moving; her storyline deserved further exploration. Liotta and Rogan have a great sparring relationship in the movie, with the detective hating the mall security guy’s methods with good reason.
The second-in-command at the mall, Dennis, has the strangest storyline in the film with the least resolution. Simply fixing this one character would have solved many of the plot and humor problems in the film. I can not safely recommend “Observe & Report” to every fan of adult comedy, like I can with “40 Year Old Virgin” or “Role Models,” because this movie loses its mojo too many times. Fans of Rogan’s work in “Pineapple Express” may find enough to like about this movie to enjoy renting it. The “mall security comedies” are more hype than substance and both are less than what they could have been.
Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence.
