Observe and Report

source: Observe and Report

I can honestly say this is the worst film in the history of films - OK. Trust me - I liked Howard the Duck. This film was worse than Paul Blart. Go see Slumdog Millionaire - again if you have to, it's a better deal. Go have a root canal it would feel better than feeling like you got reamed at the Box Office. If my brother wasn't with me I would have left - but I stayed to the bitter awful nauseating end. Horrible - shouted without capitals, I was edited!!!!!! If you want to feel violated by Hollywood - they must think we are all stupid to make such an awful film. This proves that monkeys write scripts in Hollywood, happier Cows my a@@.

I have been trying to remember the last time that I actually walked out of a movie. No, I cannot remember ever walking out of a movie in all my 45 years of movie going. That is until today, I sat through Battlefield Earth, Howard the Duck, Ishtar, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and Hudson Hawk. Not that I was disgusted by the movie for its bad taste, nor was I embarrassed for the actors, who I really like. I had watched over 3 quarters of the movie and I just found myself saying, "You know what, I am very tired of setting through another crappy movie this year". So I got up and walked out. I would normally not write a review like this because everyone has their own opinion, and some people might have found this film funny. But I had to write this because I believe that the first few rave reviews posted on this site had to be fakes. It is sad to see that people in Hollywood would stoop to this level. Maybe they are afraid of having to ask for bail-out money because they can't make good movies any longer.

To be honest I quite enjoyed this film, OK its not a laugh out loud all the time comedy but it does have its moments. Sometimes it comes across as a serious film and its gets confusing as to what sort of route its taking. I think the viewer needs to sit down, relax and watch it with an open mind, that way you will find yourself enjoying it. The premise of the film is basically about a Naive Mall Cop (Seth Rogan) who suffers from Bi-Polar, his aim in life is to become a Police officer, without going into too much detail and spoiling it, he sets his target of finding a Flasher that is terrorising customers of the Mall to prove to an investigating police officer (Ray Liotta) he is capable of doing his job. Along the way he tries to win the heart of a Make-up Clerk (Anna Faris) with miserable consequences. All in all, many films I have seen recently I have switched off halfway through, not interested in seeing what happens in the end, this I watched to the end. I thought the ending was good, can't see what other people thought was so bad about it, yes it was a bit harsh, but all was OK. Sorry about the review being a bit short on the info part, but did not want to reveal too much about it.

This movie surprised me in a very positive way, i really liked the balance of dark and gritty comedy but at the same time also cute and beautiful (often in a very twisted way). It was a refreshing movie to watch, maybe not as good as Bad-Ass (exact same kind of twisted humor) but nevertheless a movie that shouldn't be missed by anyone who loves dark comedy. With comedy and horror it's impossible to go by the IMDb score, i think a 6 a way too low rating for this movie, but if you're frequent IMDb visitor you know about this already. People just have extremely varied taste when it comes to comedy and horror, either you love it or you hate it..

I saw "Observe & Report" last night with mild anticipation. I knew it was unlikely to be a masterpiece of "cinema," but I was nonetheless expecting some raucous, silly, fun and dumb laughs. I like Seth Rogan, and Anna Faris, and I like this genre, too. Instead of the funny, goofy, and escapist trip I expected, I saw a very sad and even depressing movie. It seemed cruel that the director was asking us to laugh at such human misery. Ronnie Barnhardt, Rogen's character, was not just some caricature of a wannabe copper we could laugh at. He was genuinely pathetic. I felt horribly sad and sorry for the poor guy. And his mother, played expertly by Celia Weston, was such a loony-tunes and pathetic creature that it was difficult to watch her. I chuckled mildly twice. The packed cinema I was in laughed mildly a few more times--- but those sitting near me seemed more disturbed and uncomfortable--- and yes, even embarrassed--- than amused. I heard many soft groans and "Ewww" more than once. Maybe there is something about "mall cop" comedies that makes them impossible to pull off successfully? The last one a few months ago was absolutely not funny. It was a dud. But at least it wasn't this heart-wrenchingly depressing. Noticing the rave reviews and comments in the first few posts in this forum, it made me wonder about the authenticity and genuineness of the authors. I may be completely off-base, in which case I can only apologise. After all, we all have different tastes, and if this film is your cup of tea, then by all means enjoy it, and share your views. But I must confess a bit of disbelief when I read the first couple of pages filled with glowing reports. Come on!!! Even if I had liked this, and found it in my heart to laugh at these demented and sad creatures, I still would not have said "Movie of the century!" and similar hyperbole. But, maybe that's just me. With all due respect, I have often wondered if the first posts on the user comment boards come from people who work for the studios--- you know, PR types paid to flood the boards with misleading hype?

Observe and Report is the worst movie ever made. I say this without regret, remorse or trepidation. I have seen other contenders for the prize: Ishtar, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Cable Guy, Neighbors, every Adam Sandler film, Planet 9 from Outer Space, Eraserhead, etc. What sets Observe and Report below every other movie was the joy with which it glorified raping a drunk, vomiting, passed-out Ana Faris. The acting of Seth Rogen was also pathetic: does anyone really believe that he is a mentally challenged manic-depressive? If he was retarded, how did he fill out all of the police forms and set up an interview so easily? I didn't laugh once, except for the F-you scene with "Saddam Hussein," and I felt bad laughing that one time. Do not allow the makers of this movie to disgrace Hollywood again with their work.

I was expecting this to be a gut busting, laugh out loud comedy. It was not. Instead, it was dark humor on steroids. I laughed more at the fight scenes than I did for the funny parts. This movie is hilarious. But you will not get what you expect. Walking into it, I thought it would be a basic movie. The mall cop catches the flasher and falls in love with the girl. Instead, he almost kills the flasher and ends up hating the girl. Plus, there was no true hero in the film. That is something everyone could relate to. In my opinion, this could be a cult classic. You won't get what you expect, but if you see this film, you will most definitely enjoy it.

Observe and Report. No, it is not a ripoff of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, lets get that out of the way right now. This movie has been troubled since the very beginning and has been disowned by critics for being too dark to be funny. Dark? Yes, this movie has its share of politically incorrect humor and gratuitous violence played up for laughs. But to call it not funny…. I simply cannot fathom why anyone did. This movie is a laugh-out-loud spectacle. Its almost as good in the way that Bad Santa was good. Seth Rogen even plays his character akin to Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (minus the Oscar worthiness and anything that made Travis Bickle a classic character of course, I'm not equating Rogen to DeNiro). The rest of the cast exemplified terrific comedic timing, especially Ray Liotta. If your looking for laughs, this movie is up your ally. Its in the same league as Kick-Ass and Bad Santa for sure. As for the critics… well… prior to the film's release, the stock market crashed. I blame the economy for this one. Times are a little bit better, and so is this movie. Give it a watch.

We have a new auteur in comedy director/writer Jody Hill. With two films and one television series under his belt now, his vision is pretty clear: he makes comedies about nasty, mean-spirited people who can be extremely unpleasant to be around. His work divide audiences sharply, and even those who like it, like myself, have their reservations. Observe and Report is heavily influenced by Taxi Driver. Seth Rogen plays the head of mall security. He spends most of his days wishing he were more important, but he also likes to believe that he is very important where he is. He dreams of shooting the bad guys and getting the hot girl (Anna Faris, a bimbo who works at a makeup counter at the mall). When a local police detective (Ray Liotta) starts horning in on his mall and his girl, Rogen begins to fly off the handle. Like Hill's previous film, The Foot Fist Way, what Observe and Report really needs is a few more laughs. It was funny, but it always felt like it could be funnier. The movie's often very depressing, and Hill is effective in making those painful moments work. Even though Rogen is pretty crazy and frankly a bad person, I felt sorry for him. If Hill could pull off more humorous moments, the balance would work a lot better.