Grumpy Comedy Review – Observe And Report

Seth Rogen appears in his four hundredth movie of the year as a screaming, swearing, disturbing oaf of a mall cop – yeah, our second mall cop movie in as many months. Observe and Report tries so hard to wow with its edgy weirdness – it comes off as stupid and desperate. Meanwhile, in its mission to shock and awe it forgot THE FUCKING JOKES.

It’s barely a comedy at all.

Here’s the plot: A pervert is flashing his junk around to women in the parking lot, Seth’s bitchy blonde friend catches a glimpse and gets traumatized. Suddenly, a news team gets all over this fucking non-news story, getting the attention of real cop Ray Liotta.

He interviews mall workers about it, which Seth doesn’t like. It becomes a whole Seth vs. Ray thing, they get in a big row, then Seth thinks he can make up with him when Ray really, really hates his guts.

And who can blame him? Seth plays a fucking moron. He yells “FUCK” at the top of his lungs to everyone, which gets pretty tiring. He’s a miserable creep on medication with all sorts of issues, not that that’s a good reason to feel sorry for him.

There is nothing redeeming about the guy at all, going on and on about guns and murder and all sorts of unpleasantness. He’s an annoying piece of shit in need of a bullet in the brain. And he’s the lead!

Surprisingly, the movie points all of this out in the last half – when Liotta tells him he can’t be a normal cop. “I thought this was kinda funny but it’s actually kinda sad,” a fellow cop says. Well, it would be sad if there was some reason to give a shit for the stupid guy.

That reason never surfaces because the movie would rather wallow in mean-spirited bullshit. There’s a scene between Seth and some vague brown-skinned dude, a pervert but not THE pervert, in which Seth calls him Saddam Hussein a couple of times until they engage in an endless “say fuck you to each other” contest.

Later, after Ray Liotta drops him off at “the worst corner in the city” the father of a crack dealer kid threatens to make Seth fellate a gun. Then, Seth miraculously fights him while heavy metal music plays. Also, Seth date rapes his bitchy friend.

None of this is offensive so much as it is boring, unfunny crap. The most overpowering fucking soundtrack in the world plays to cover up the lack of story, or anything funny going on. Every fucking scene, another stupid pop song plays against another stupid montage.

Half the move is composed of musical montages – Seth doing drugs, Seth training, Seth’s sadness, Seth reveling in violence, whatever. All this is capped off with that song from the end of Fight Club set to the streaker’s full-frontal reveal.

And I’m okay with male nudity. I’m okay with delusional characters. But if this what passes for dark comedy these days it’s pathetic. These guys forgot dark comedies are supposed to be funny. This is a bad movie, folks. Recognize it. Avoid it. Pity whoever laughs at it.

HIGHLIGHT: Ray Liotta wails on Seth Rogen. Full blown rage, right in his ear. Shit felt great.