Observe and Report (2009, Jody Hill)

So many will hate it, so few will love it, and even less will truly get it:

There truly is nothing better than going into a film and getting something that you did not expect. I know, at the risk of sounding pompous, that I am among the few Americans who enjoy this, but it's just a fact; and Observe and Report is exactly the opposite of everything most people will expect going into it.

Observe and Report could very well be Seth Rogen's "the Cable Guy", meaning that it could possibly make a fairly big, dark dent in his career for the time being, but in years to pass people will see it for what it truly is; it's not a comedy in the sense of Knocked-Up or the 40 Year Old Virgin, this is more on par with something Todd Solondz, think Happiness: a film filled to the brim with unlikeable characters, would do if he wasn't so neurotic.

I bring up Carrey's black sheep of a film because it's basically the exact same set up; Rogen is America's new favorite goofball / sweetie pie / whatever, the film is, more or less, being advertised as a simple comedy; he plays a mall security cop who thinks he's going to save the world, tee hee hee hee, right? Wrong.

It's a dark film, and those going in with expectations of a few crotch jokes won't be pleased with some of the content and the manner they perceive it to be shown in; one scene, between Rogen and Faris in particular has garnered some attention for it's presentation as being comedic when in fact it isn't at all, but what can you expect from the MPAA & other assorted moral do gooders.

Rogen's character is interesting because of his actions, his beliefs; he's a funny guy, but his character is far from funny. A man, obviously, suffering from delusion and some degree of narcissism, thinks that he knows what is right and only his idea of right is the right one (that's a lot of rights, 'ey?) His actions will make most cringe, and his ideas and, most of all, dreams will make others unbearably uncomfortable, but that is where the genius of the film is. You can identify with Rogen's character, but why do you? Why don't you? It's a comedic film that expects viewers to think; there in lay the problem.

The comedy of the film isn't blatant and it's not served to you on a platter in a veil of obviousness; I can't quite grasp how to describe the comedy of the film. There are laughs, no doubt about it, but it's more about the character that Rogen plays than about getting you to laugh; and if it does get you to laugh you usually end up questioning exactly why you would laugh at that circumstance.

It presents scenarios that could be interpreted as either disturbing or funny, it mixes drama and comedy with ease, but, unfortunately it will just go over most people's heads.

GRADE: A