Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 198
Fresh: 100 | Rotten: 98
Though it has a mean streak, and does not cater to all tastes, Observe and Report has gut-busting laughs and a fully committed Seth Rogen in irresistible form.
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 38
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 19
Though it has a mean streak, and does not cater to all tastes, Observe and Report has gut-busting laughs and a fully committed Seth Rogen in irresistible form.
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Average Rating: 2.5/5
User Ratings: 617,579
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The Foot Fist Way director Jody Hill takes the helm for this Seth Rogen comedy concerning an ambitious mall cop who competes with a seasoned detective to bust an elusive flasher. Make a wrong move at Forest Ridge Mall, and you'll have to answer to no-nonsense security head Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen). Ronnie sees skateboarders as the blight of society, and any shoplifter unfortunate enough to summon his wrath will be promptly busted and booked. Sure, Ronnie may suffer delusions of grandeur when it
Apr 10, 2009 Wide
Sep 22, 2009
$24.0M
Warner Bros. Pictures
All Critics (198) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (100) | DVD (17)
I don't think it's much of a comedy. The darkness overpowers everything.
You don't relate or enjoy watching Seth Rogen's character on screen.
It falls short of brilliant but it's a lot more daring than what passes for 'dark comedy' these days, and it reminds us that 'feel bad' comedies may not always be as funny as 'feel good' ones but, when they work, they can ultimately be more satisfying.
Observe and Report is a lot better when it's being funny than when it's rummaging in the shadows.
I don't want to oversell it, but Observe and Report is the sort of offbeat studio movie that should be encouraged.
In the end, Observe and Report falls in the somewhat confusing middle -- guaranteed to annoy the mainstream while not quite delivering the final twist and bitter irony the true comic cultists crave.
It's a full-scale, contemptuous attack on the mall mentality.
A seriously bizarre little movie...
If you enjoy this film, it might just be time to examine the stability of your own psychological wellbeing. I loved Observe and Report, and that's a terrifying reality I have to deal with.
Seth Rogen hardens his Hanna-Barbera face to become what he's never been before: Damn scary. Fiendishly misanthropic, unnervingly funny and dangerously subversive, Jody Hill hybridizes "Taxi Driver" into a satire of major laughs and grim subtext.
That playlist proves that Observe and Report was shaped by a hip sensibility. Shame that sensibility didn't have more effect on the script.
Rogen and writer-director Jody Hill wring out of it a scary-funny character study about a warped man and his twisted sense of what it means to be a hero.
Here's an observation--Jody Hill's bum comedy fails to live up to the potential of its two talented stars, Seth Rogen and Anna Farris. As for the story, here's the report. It's stupid.
I have no idea why the filmmakers thought this Neanderthal was humorous, and Rogen can do nothing to make the mean-spirited jerk likable. (Blu-ray Edition)
If this were an audition reel and I was the head of a studio I'd call security to make sure this guy Seth Rogen and his writer-director Jody Hill never got near enough to my office to cast a shadow on it.
Dark, disturbing comedy is for adults only.
I suppose this movie could've been worse. I'm just not sure how.
...gets increasingly bleak and ludicrous as it goes along, until it ends on a sentimental yet still rude and vulgar note. The movie is relentless.
As raunchy and as nihilistic as a two-minute punk song. It has its envelope-pushing rewards, at times .. but it tends to make its single-minded point over and over. After a short while, you begin to wonder: Is there anything on its mind? There isn't.
Lets it all hang out, and we're not talking danglingly plot threads. And the wicked humor never lets up, as the tone deliciously darkens just when it seems there's nowhere left to go. Better than Blart and Dirtier Than Harry.
Observe and reject
You can cheer on "Paul Blart," something impossible in "Observe and Report," which is much darker. It does have some occasional funny moments, but they don't feel fresh
It's difficult to explain why I gravitated towards this. Like everyone else at the time, I just assumed it was a clone of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and I didn't really give it a chance because of that. However, a couple of people whose opinions I respect were saying positive things about it so I decided to give it a shot.
February 27, 2012
Super Reviewer
It's my job to observe and report. Bottom line is, it's a very mean film but a very funny one with a committed and energetic Seth Rogen who plays his part in his trademark style with a dark batshit twist.
October 25, 2011
Super Reviewer
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