To Serve, Protect, and Make You Cry with Laughter

I cannot tell you enough good things about Observe and Report, starring comedy’s It Boy, Seth Rogen.

Directed by Jody Hill (who helmed the 2008 little-seen Danny McBride vehicle The Foot Fist Way), this oh-so-wrong movie, about a mall cop whose name is not Paul Blart, sounded appealing to me, unlike Kevin James’ unexpected winter hit.

Rogen is just terrific as Ronnie Barnhardt – indeed, his pre-weight-loss-for-2010’s-The Green Hornet face is perfect for this adorably cherubic one moment, gun-totting maniac the next type of a guy. And while, indeed again, he’s playing yet another man-boy, he’s the sun around which a stellar cast revolves.

Anna Faris takes a bit of a backseat following her starring and producing roles in last year’s The House Bunny, but she’s wonderfully memorable as Brandi, the hot makeup counter girl on whom Ronnie’s crushing. And Celia Weston’s glorious as his hard-drinking, tell-it-like-it-is-even-though-it’s-hurtful mom.

But Observe and Report isn’t about them but about what Ronnie does at the Forest Ridge Mall where he’s the head of security. He patrols his jurisdiction with an iron fist, combating skateboarders, shoplifters, and unruly customers while dreaming of the day when he can swap his flashlight for a badge and a gun.

You know – as a real cop.

His delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall is struck by a flasher. Driven to serve and protect the mall and its patrons, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his underappreciated law enforcement talents on a grand scale, hoping his solution of this crime will earn him a coveted spot at the police academy, and, natch, capture the attention of his heart’s elusive desire, Brandi.

His ill-advised and single-minded pursuit of glory ends up in a turf war with the equally competitive Det. Harrison (Ray Liotta), and Ronnie is confronted with the challenge of not only catching the flasher (who already has targeted Brandi!), but also of getting him before the actual men in blue do.

I’d say hilarity ensues, but the truth is the made-me-cry-with laughter hilarity in Observe and Report never ends. It is foul, it is wrong, but it is good.

My Rating ****

Photo: Warner Bros.