This movie's A Hot Mess... But I liked it anyways

I recently watched Observe and Report on DVR. It's an example of a movie that I enjoyed watching, but that I would not classify as 'good'...

Observe and Report stars Seth Rogen (Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad) as Ronnie Barnhardt, a bipolar mall security guard who believes he can improve his station in life if he can just catch a flasher who exposes himself to women in the mall parking lot. Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Unlawful Entry) plays the Police Detective who's brought in when Barnhardt can't seem to solve the case. To further complicate matters, Barnhardt is infatuated with Brandi, the white trash yamp played brilliantly by Anna Faris (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Brokeback Mountain). Barnhardt hilariously believes he can get her to fall in love with him, and gets lots of laughs trying.
 Anyways, Barnhardt and his rag-tag band of misfit sidekicks kind of meander through the film, getting into trouble while failing to catch the flasher or the mysterious thief who keeps ransacking the mall at night.
If you're finding this review hard to follow, you're getting an idea of how I felt watching the movie. It seems like a movie that had a very basic plot going in, but the actors and director kept adding funny stuff until it just got out of hand. There are moments in the movie that are side-splittingly funny, and moments that fall 100% flat. The story never quite finds a rhythm, and eventually, thankfully, the movie ends. If I was grading this movie, I'd say it's probably a D+ effort, but I'd give it a C- because it made me laugh really hard more than once. That's gotta count for something, right?

holla!
-samax

2 comments:

Ola said...

I agree with your critique 100%. While it had its funny parts, it was poorly put together, so much so, it seemed like it was that way on purpose, you know, like a comedian who's funny by being self deprecating? I will say though, Michael Pena was hilarious!

Samax said...

Right.

If I had to guess, I would say the movie was mostly improv.

I bet it was a lot of fun to make...

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