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Observe and Report

This movie should be called Stop and Don't Watch.

Movie Details

Rated: R

Run Time: 1 hr 26 min

Release Date: 4/10/2009

Genre: Comedy

Writer: Jody Hill

Director: Jody Hill

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis

Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express) is a dedicated and hard butt mall security guard who makes it his life mission to apprehend an anonymous man who is going around the mall flashing people. Ronnie believes if he catches this dude he’d be one step closer to becoming a real cop and getting his dream girl.

Review

Awful. Just plain awful. I think Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express) hit a brick wall with this flick. The script lacked good dialogue, climax, and a really good premise. The dialogue was filled with extreme profanity. I really feel like you can’t substitute good comedy with cursing. For me, it just doesn’t work. The film was all over the place just like Rogen’s character Ronnie.

The characters did nada nada for me. I never connected with any of them not even the main character Ronnie. That’s very excruciating when you’re not feeling anyone in the film. Okay, I take it back I liked the dude Saddamn (Aziz Ansari, I Love You, Man) at the cream kiosk. He instantly grabbed my attention and made me laugh. I hope I see more of him in comedies.

Here’s what the lack luster story is about. There’s Ronnie, a mall security dude who dreams of being a cop. While he practices for his test, he works and takes pride in being head of security at the local mall and after an anonymous flasher (Randy Gambill) exposes his tragic mess of a body, Ronnie makes it his mission to capture the dude. Oh, and he is feeling the self-centered ditzy cosmetic girl Brandi (Anna Faris, House Bunny). He’s in lovvve and he just knows it will help the situation if he caught home dude and look like the man.

First of all, I’d be no more good if I was flashed at the mall by this man. UGH! He looked like he stunk so bad that I swear I left the theater with several singed nose hairs. Now that’s bad. He looked like he ain’t showered in 8 days and his body hadn’t seen a gym or weight room in like… um… never!

Anyhoo, this was a dud of a film and I sure hope Rogen gets back with the likes of Judd Apatow. That man makes some winners. I was very disappointed and COULD NOT wait until Observe ended. And the soundtrack…mmm mmm mmm left something fierce to be desired. Can a sista get a little top 40?

I was thinking if perhaps if I didn’t see Paul Bart: Mall Cop first, I might not feel as negative about Observe. Then I thought it didn’t matter because Observe just was way below a good movie. At least Mall Cop had a cute story, it was wholesome for the entire family, and there was a clear bad guy, climax and very likable characters. You and I could have written a better script than Observe. Shoot I’d best get cracking or pull out some old ones I wrote a few years back.
Observe is one of those films that if you are a fan of Seth Rogen’s you may find it very funny. I like Seth’s movies, but this one just didn't do it for me at all. I’d much rather would have seen it on DVD and even then that’s a stretch for me.
 

My Rating ~ 1 Reels

1 - Wait for HBO or cable

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