Observe and Report (2009)

(In French, On Cable TV, August 2022) Much was written, back in 2009, about Observe and Report’s darkly acid sense of humour—especially compared to the kind of comedy that star Seth Rogen was getting known for. (Marketing had much to do with mismatched expectations.)  Here he sheds (and shreds) his amiable stoner persona for more challenging material as a bipolar mall security guard with dark ambitions. As the film begins, he’s getting frustrated at being “just” a mall security guard, he’s got a crush on a perfume counter attendant and a flasher is terrorizing shoppers at his mall. But what if he could become a real policeman, get the unattainable girl and catch the flasher? While there are elements here of a much lighter comedy, the execution is acid: it’s clear that the protagonist is not well and not the kind of person you’d want as a policeman. (Some will object that the most unrealistic element of the film is the way the entire police force rejects the trigger-happy protagonist, but I digress.)  The tone of the film makes it clear that we’re not supposed to cheer for him… making the very ironic conclusion a bit of a light slap. For Rogen, the role expands his persona based on similarities with other roles. Anna Faris is fine as the romantic interest, but Ray Liotta is more remarkable as a rotten-solid policeman exasperated by this pretender, while Michael Peña predictably steals the show as a wild colleague. If Observe and Report makes you uncomfortable, well, that’s what it intends: This isn’t meant to be anyone’s favourite film, but an off-putting, something’s-wrong-here kind of thing. (Predictably, it got destroyed at the box office, $27M to $183M, by the superficially similar but much fluffier Paul Blart: Mall Cop released a few months earlier.)  I found it off-putting but more interesting than expected, and somewhat more complex than many other Rogen vehicles by dint of the difference between how the character acted versus how he was portrayed. But I’ll understand anyone who finds it reprehensible and unbearable. The French-Canadian dub is weird—with some English swearwords kept, while others are translated into accented French.