For me, Kevin James and Mall Cop have ruined anything to do with Malls and shopping centres. I may not even look at the amazing Blue Brothers chase sequence again, I'm that scarred! I'm a huge Seth Rogen fan, but I was still very dubious about Observe and Report.
The story revolves around Rogen’s, character Ronnie, who is the head of Mall security. Things are going well for Ronnie until one day a “pervert” show’s up and starts flashing any female with his little captain winkle! And of course the make up counter girl that Ronnie is obsessed with, gets flashed. Detective Harris (Ray Liotta) starts investigating the case, but he isn't up to scratch in the eyes of Ronnie, who really deep down thinks he’s the cop. So in between trying to join up for the Police Academy and getting wasted the story still revolves around trying to apprehend the flasher, all the time while trying to outdo Det. Harris. And of course there’s the blatantly obvious love interest!
Observe and Report is just under 90 minutes long, but the first half of the movie feels twice as long as that and does it ever drag. Thankfully, things pickup in the second half with a selection of great lines and the the final few minutes are actually highly entertaining with more than enough to keep you choking on your popcorn!
Seth Rogen is just convincing enough as the head of mall security, but to me, he looks out of place in a movie like this! The supporting cast, in particular Ray Liotta are quite entertaining and his battle’s with Ronnie are very good, and at times Observe and Report is very dark when it comes to the head of mall security and how demented he actually is. But there’s not enough here to make this movie downright hilarious. That said; special mention goes to the kid getting the skateboard cracked off his head, that made me laugh so hard!. It is very funny in parts, and as mentioned the last part is nuts (literally).
Maybe I'm just not feeling the love because of Mall Cop and I really wanted to love this movie, but two mall movies released so close together is a bad move. This might have been better off released after the Summer blockbuster season or at the very least Kevin James and his Mall cop shite should have been canned! Maybe the DVD and Blu-ray will have a directors cut, or at least by the time its released Mall Cop will have eroded from my mind. Dont get me wrong, this is a very different beast to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, but the whole thing being set in a mall was too much for me.
If the first half had the pace and humour of the second half, then we would be onto a major winner. Either way, Observe and Report is not a bad movie, it is very funny in parts but is lacking a little something to make it a movie that is truly great!
7/10
Trailer NSFW
Special thanks to the Gate cinemas!
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