Observe and Report - Movie Review
Rating: 
3.25 out of 5 stars
Observe and Report is a comedy with a love interest, but you would be hard pressed to classify it as a romantic comedy. It has guns and martial arts in it, but is definitely not an action movie. And it has a downtrodden protagonist, but he's so unlikeable and dim-witted, you'd be embarrassed to call him heroic in any normal sense of the word. It's a study in contradictions, and as such, is highly original, at least in places.
Do you have spend $10 to see it in the theater? No, but if you wait for DVD, some of the best parts are likely to be spoiled by people at the water cooler. Should you see it with a date? I wouldn't recommend it. But is it worth seeing it? If you're not easily offended and willing to wait for the laughs, I would recommend it... hesitantly.
Why the hesitation? At a key point midway through the movie, I noticed several audience members tensely watching while cringing behind their hands. It was a posture I've seen before in horror movie audiences. Instead of screeches of terror, though, it was staccato bursts of uncomfortable laughter that erupted every few minutes. In other words, watching Observe and Report is not exactly a comfortable experience. Fun and edgy? Yes. But comfortable? No.
Be aware: there are spoilers below.
The first 40 minutes or so of "Observe and Report" is downright awful. During that time, you will be subjected to an intimate view of Ronnie, a not-so-bright mall cop... excuse me... head-of-mall-security... with aspirations of being called into the "big leagues" as a real cop.
At the mall Ronnie lords his title over the lesser mall-cops when they make mistakes. He struts and postures as he and his posse patrol "his" mall in comedic slow motion. He frightens the female employees with the suggestion that he is the only thing standing between them and legions of depraved perverts waiting to assault them on their way to their cars. He spends his after-hours time at the target shooting range, practicing with real guns, which he's not allowed to carry at work. And he hampers and insults real cops when they come to his mall to investigate serious crimes that take place on his watch, claiming "I'm already on this case!"
And did I mention that he's not-so-bright.
But 45 minutes into the movie, the script takes a turn. Ronnie is revealed to be bi-polar, on medication and madly in love with a beautiful, but crass alcoholic, not unlike his mother. He asks his love interest out on what promises to be a date the likes of which you have probably not seen on camera before, although you may have had the horror of experiencing one like it in real-life.
When Ronnie pursues his dream of becoming a real cop, he predictably falls prey to the bullying of those he admires, culminating in a hilarious and shocking melee against the entire town's police force... armed only with a flashlight. And his final chase sequence with an impish flasher running wild in the mall is astonishingly original.
Observe and Report is worth a look and a laugh. And a cringe. Because you'll probably find yourself doing all three.
