Photo titled "Our Baby Doffer" by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee, 1910
A week ago, I had a spirited defense of the mean-spirited mental-illness comedy of Observe and Report, but I'm not really feeling it anymore. In retrospect, I admire the chutzpah of the filmmakers in making a shocking (and shockingly funny!) comedy that has sparked a lot of good dialogue about what comedy should be. I am still upset at how the movie was poorly marketed as an easy-going comedy about a doofy mall cop, when the previews basically should have just said, "Here's the deal - this is a gritty, uncompromising movie that's about some disturbing issues. But we really tried to make it as funny as possible. This is not Paul Blart: Mall Cop!" I'm just having some trouble getting riled up about it anymore, so I'll keep this short.
As a young dude, I had some friends who were kind of like Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogan), the bipolar anti-hero of Observe and Report. It's hard being a young dude who has a fairly serious mental illness that seriously limits your life opportunities. None of these friends were gun-obsessed security guards, but they were doughy losers that lived with their moms and went through their days with a mix of weird passionate energy and medication-induced lethargy. And this is where Ronnie is when Observe and Report begins - he's in a dead-end job as head of mall security, but he has his coworkers and his alcoholic mom and his dreams of love with the girl at the makeup counter. And then the triggering event happens - a series of indecent exposure incidents and robberies at the mall throws everything out of whack for Ronnie. Suddenly, a weary cop (Ray Liotta) is encroaching on Ronnie's territory by investigating things at the mall, and the makeup counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris) is actually giving Ronnie some attention.
And this is when Ronnie does the thing that all my friends went through at some point - he decides that its his meds that are holding him back. He stops taking his pills and Ronnie's life steadily spirals out of control, leading to a violent redemptive ending. It's weird to me that most critics mostly ignored the handling of the central theme of mental illness in Observe and Report, limiting their analysis to a single reference to Taxi Driver. My synopsis makes the movie sound like a big downer, but Observe and Report is actually a very funny movie, with a consistent stream of funny moments. Granted, most of the "jokes" are character-driven and awkward humor driven by Rogen, Liotta, and Faris, and this kind of thing isn't for everyone. Writer-director Jody Hill is definitely open to accusations of not having any sympathy for his characters here - Faris's character in particular is light on redeeming qualities - but I think the characters all have their good points and are lovingly rendered and portrayed. Also, some of the supporting players, particularly Danny McBride and Aziz Ansari, make the most of their hilarious single-scene bits.
A lot of people complained about the end of Observe and Report, and I'd like to address it a little here, hopefully without spoiling anything. The ending is really the movie's most interesting aspect, setting up one kind of ending before pulling the rug out from under the audience and going a totally different direction. I think that this last defiance of expectation is the key to the movie, and it's a "happy ending" that is among the most disturbing conclusions I've ever seen. If, like me, you can understand and identify with Ronnie at all (and that's the key to enjoying this movie), the ending will mess with your head more than a little. Jody Hill has made a gross-out comedy that provokes discussion and was savaged by some critics only because they chose to hold it to a higher standard than other comedy. And I'm all for comedy being held to a higher standard - it's more interesting that way.
For me, the cherry on top of a movie with an original premise, great script, and competent cast is a good soundtrack. The use of under-appreciated UK pub-rockers Patto is excellent, and tracks by the Band, Yardbirds, and McLusky all enhance particular moments of Observe and Report. I was especially excited to hear "Brain" by the Action used in one scene. The song is a lost classic from George Martin's second-stage proteges - recorded in 1967, their aborted album didn't get released until 2002. The album has a rough sound to it because it's basically a set of demos, but the Action really captured a great feel in the raw vocal and tremelo guitar line.
"Brain" by the Action
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