In the interest of full disclosure, director Jody Hill and I were classmates at the North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking. On a school trip to Los Angeles, we went to producer Pierre David’s company to pitch an erotic thriller film. Nothing came of it since the executive informed us, they were shutting down shortly. While we are “friends” on Facebook, we haven’t communicated with each other since graduation in 1999. He never responded to my “happy birthday!!!” posts so I stopped sending them several years back. But I won’t let this interfere with my review of Observe and Report that’s being upgraded to the Shout Select line. Although watching the movie is like a return to film school in 1999 and not merely remembering when the movie came out in 2009. This is a film filled with my old classmates and others who were part of the experience of living in Winston-Salem at that time.
There’s trouble at the Forest Ridge Mall. A flasher (NCSA alumni Randy Gambill) has been exposing himself to shoppers in the parking lot. The local media warns their viewers of the danger, but Head of Mall Security Ronnie Barnhardt (Pineapple Express’ Seth Rogen) swears he’s on the case and the perp will be busted soon. He immediately warns and reassures makeup counter specialist Brandi (Smiley Face‘s Anna Faris) about the perv except he’s also peeping on her cleavage. Ronnie’s crew includes Dennis (Ant-Man‘s Michael Peña) and the Yuan Twins (Arrested Development‘s Matt and John Yuan). Turns out Ronnie isn’t much protection since Brandi gets victimized. There’s also a rash of robberies in the mall. Ronnie doesn’t like it when Police Detective Harrison (Goodfellas‘ Ray Liotta) shows up to investigate. The mall is his turf. Ronnie’s dream is to be a real cop and Harrison humors him by taking him on a ride along in the most dangerous part of town. This leads to Ronnie facing off with a local gangster (NCSA Alumni Danny McBride). Eventually Ronnie takes Brandi out on a date which turns into her getting sloshed and downing a few of his prescription pills. Things get rather dark when Ronnie takes her home for a twisted “romantic” interlude. Is Ronnie more dangerous and disturbing than the criminals he’s supposed to catch at the mall?
Everything in this movie is extremely dark. Ronnie is so stubborn, violent and stupid that he’d probably be running for office in 2024. It is strange in the scene where Ronnie faces off with the drug dealer at the park since they’re both Danny McBride characters even though Danny is playing the guy with his kid’s face tattooed on his chest. When I first saw the film, I sensed Danny should have been the lead except he was probably too busy appearing in Land of the Lost and Up In The Air while also doing Eastbound and Down for HBO in his post-Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder heat phase. The bonus features lets me know that Seth had signed up first. Seth does a fine job playing the psychotic character who has a warped sense of his role as mall security. He’s yet to top this as a movie role. Although for bankability, he’s never gone this freaky since.
As someone who recognizes plenty of names in the credit, there are two that need to be mentioned. Eddie Rouse plays an angry store owner. He acted in a lot of our student productions and finally got out to Los Angeles. He kept getting roles in feature films made by NCSA alumni. He had a memorable appearance in American Gangster with Denzil Washington. He got a massive break being cast as the robot piano player in HBO’s West World. After shooting the pilot, he died of liver failure. Another cast member that has passed since the movie’s release is Ben Best, Detective Okarski. Ben was in my class at NCSA. After school, he had quite a bit of success with his work on the screenplays for The Foot Fist Way, Your Highness and creating Eastbound & Down with Danny and Jody. He ended up acting in Land of the Lost and Superbad. He became a bit of a cult star. He died in 2021. There doesn’t seem to be any on the record report of what killed him at 46. Even Alexa doesn’t know. It does feel good to see Eddie and Ben on the screen.
In a strange twist, 2009 was the year of dueling mall cop comedies. Observe and Report premiered at SXSW in March. When it arrived at theaters in April, people were still laughing at Paul Blart: Mall Cop with Kevin James that came out in January. They were both low budget comedies made by major studios. A few theaters showed both Paul Blart and Observe And Report. Blart was goofy while Observe was grotesque. Why didn’t Warners push back Observe and Report until the winter? I have to applaud Jody Hill for not caving in and doing reshoots to lighten up his vision. There had to be a bit of faith that the crowds who had flocked to see Seth Rogen in Superbad and Knocked Up were going to show up for the R Rated fun. These people weren’t the ones buying tickets to witness Kevin James on a Segway scooter. There are probably a few profit participants who are frustrated since Paul Blart made $146 million in US theaters while Observe and Report pulled in $27 million. There’s no 15th anniversary Blu-ray of Paul Blart: Mall Cop coming out. But the disturbing humor of Observe and Report is getting celebrated this year. Jody Hill didn’t make a family friendly comedy. The cringe humor of Observe and Report has lasted longer than my neighborhood shopping mall. I’m proud of what my old classmate created.
The Video is 2.39:1 anamorphic. The transfer looks fine at capturing mall life back in 2009. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo. You’ll get to hear all of Seth’s quips easily. The movie is subtitled.
Picture In Picture Commentary by Seth Rogen, Anna Faris and Jody Hill has the trio sitting in a movie theater in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. They are a bit nervous being stared at by the cameras while they try to talk about the film. Seth isn’t sure what to do physically on camera. This was produced for the original Blu-ray release. There is talk about how people thought the flasher was Seth instead of Randy Gambill.
Interview with Jody Hill (20:34) has him talk about making a movie where he refused to let the main character be so likeable. He got the film on the rails at Warner Brothers in the wake of Foot Fist Way getting noticed. Seth Rogen immediately wanted to be the lead. He gets into how he cast Anna Faris. We heard about how Ray Liotta got into a dark and twisted character. Danny McBride’s cameo gets explained. Also there’s talk about cinematographer Tim Orr and editor Zene Baker.
Forest Ridge Mall: Security Recruitment Video (3:01) uses the actors to promote the gig. The video is doctored up to look like it’s from an EP speed VHS tape.
Seth Rogen and Anna Faris: Unscripted (7:38) has a behind scene of the two of them on their restaurant date ordering drinks. Seth admits he doesn’t read the script often or review the pages before he shows up on the set. Anna enjoys improvising on the set with Seth. Anna does Seth’s laugh.
Basically Training (6:48) has Jody Hill talk about the character from the set. Seth gets into the character’s rage issues. There’s an interview with Eddie Rouse. I so miss Eddie.
Deleted Scenes (27:11) has all those improved scenes extra lines. We get more Eddie Rouse.
Theatrical Trailer (2:32) opens with the flasher in the parking lot taking victims.
Gag Reel (12:17) has Ray Liotta blowing his lines and dealing with prop failures.
Shout! Studios presents Observe And Report (Shout Select). Directed by Jody Hill. Screenplay by Jody Hill. Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, Celia Weston and Eddie Rouse. Running Time: 86 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: August 13, 2024.
