Meet mall cop Paul Blart’s evil, unfunny twin, Ronnie Barnhardt ( Seth Rogen).
Like his rotund counterpart, the head of security at the Forest Ridge Mall dreams of being a real cop.
When a flaccid flasher hits the mall parking lot and an after-hours thief strikes, he gets the chance to prove he can serve and protect.
Ray Liotta plays a detective who tires of Ronnie. You can bet he’s never dreamed of being a rent-a-cop.
Writer-director Jody Hill (“The Foot Fist Way”) is going for the dark comedy here.
Ronnie is bigoted, psychologically damaged, potentially dangerous. Anna Faris’ cosmetic-counter meanie, Brandi, isn’t much sounder.
Michael Peña amuses (sort of) as he interprets Ronnie’s genius to co-workers John and Matt (John and Matt Yuan), twins with a yen for automatic weapons.
Comedies that load up on disagreeable characters do so at their own risk.
Hill has said “Taxi Driver” inspired him. OK. But fresh revelations about humans (however twisted) are scarce.
“Observe and Report” is short on laughs, even the bitter variety. It disturbs with a scene of date rape then weakly turns it into a pathetic joke.
Ronnie is lonely. He overcompensates. He lives with his boozy mother.
We get it, he’s flawed. So where to from that? Nowhere — and fast.
“Observe and Report”
Written and directed by Jody Hill; photography by Tim Orr; starring Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Anna Faris, Dan Bakkedahl, Jesse Plemons. Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence. 1 hour, 22 minutes. Opens today at area theaters.
