Observe and Report

Written and directed by Jody Hill

Jody Hill and Seth Rogan have made a brave film here, a film that dares to take its humor to a very dark place and that casts Rogan as an unlikable, if pitiable, character. Rogan plays Ronnie Barnhardt, a bi-polar mall security guard whose one great wish, to become a real cop, will obviously never be realized, mostly because his every action and utterance is offensive and often harmful to those around him. During a psychological profiling, part of the process of applying to the police force, he unwittingly reveals such extraordinarily violent tendencies that not only should he not be a policeman but it seems inevitable that he’ll spend some time in jail somewhere along the line.

Ronnie takes his job all-too-seriously and when a flasher starts exposing himself to women in the parking lot, there will be no rest for Ronnie until the offender is apprehended and ultimately, in one of several shockingly funny scenes, publicly shot. That the filmmakers dare to go as dark as they do and that Rogan would take on such a role at this time in his soaring career, is remarkable. Many of the “jokes” are simply exaggerated turns into almost absurdist humor, the kind of humor that to many people will be offensive and distasteful, but for those who like their humor dark, Observe and Report will be a refreshing change of pace, in keeping with the edgy comedy of, for example, Ricky Gervais (remember his comments at the 2009 Oscars? Not too many comedians riff on the Holocaust for jokes).

The humor here is mostly of the unexpected; the audience is often not quite sure where it’s going and when it goes off the deep-end, there is an element of surprise that few recent comedies have dared to deliver. I can't think of another recent comedy that has scenes as shockingly funny as, say, Ronnie’s mother (the perfectly-cast Celia Weston) agreeing with him that he was the reason his father left her, or her passing out drunk when Ronnie is pouring his heart out to her, or her coming on to Ronnie’s co-workers and telling them in front of him that in high school she fucked all her son’s friends, Ronnie just shrugging and conceding that, yes, dear Mom did sleep with most of my friends in high school. This is basic jaw-dropping humor, and Observe and Report has more than a handful of such moments.

Which brings to us to the much-discussed date-rape scene, about which Anna Ferris (Brandi) herself commented “The unapologetic nature of Jody’s comedy was so appealing to me, and I really wanted be part of it. I’m so grateful I was cast, but when I read the script, I thought, “Well, this is Warner Brothers. This is a studio movie, so this is all gonna be softened up. It’s a comedy, right?” So when we were shooting it, even the date-rape scene—or as I refer to it, “The Tender Love-Making Scene”—I just thought, “We’ll shoot it, but it’s not gonna be in the movie. I don’t have to worry about that one.” And yet there it is.” (http://www.avclub.com/articles/anna-faris,26245).

No one could honestly say that anything about date-rape is funny. But the scene in question does make us laugh, not because we are laughing at date-rape but because we are so taken aback by the characters’ actions – Ronnie’s for doing it and Brandi’s for saying “Why did you stop, motherfucker?” when he hesitates. That hesitation allows for this to exist somewhere between date-rape and consensual sex; Ronnie did not, after all, slip Brandi drugs surreptitiously. In his character’s mind-set, he was sharing drugs with her in a twisted version of flirtation and courtship. Them having sex, Brandi zoned out and barely conscious is appalling; Brandi asking “Why did you stop, motherfucker?” is what makes us laugh. It’s so outrageous it’s unholy. The both of them are so pathetic and awful we have to laugh, but not because it’s funny exactly. Because it borders on the bizarre. It’s sick and it’s wrong. So wrong. Just as R. Crumb’s comics were so wrong. And yet, they can make one laugh, if one is open to that type of over-the-top, grotesque humor. Remember Pink Flamingoes and the closing shot of Divine and the dog poop? Revolting, certainly, but revolting in a way that the only reaction we can have is to laugh and shake our heads at the sheer audacity and outrageousness of it even as, with Pink Flamingoes anyway, we are ready to leave the theater and walk out into some much-needed fresh air.

The fact that in Observe and Report Rogan’s character, while pitiable, is not made sympathetic or likable gives this film weight and integrity. These are unstable people who go down, down, down a road, then make a sharp left. How often do we get a comedy that does not ask us, nor allow us, to like the characters? Even the most bumbling idiots of your average comedy, we wouldn’t mind spending a half hour with them, although an actual meal might prove too much. But we would run away from a Ronnie, shake our heads at a Brandi. That intention makes this film worth celebrating to some degree. A film that can jolt us, once in a while, that seems like a good thing. The uneasy laugh is one that must be earned and one that makes for a notable, and rare, viewing experience in a theater with an audience. Highly recommended for anyone who likes their comedy dark.

Review written by Mike Fishman