Column:

Hill, Rogen offer atmosphere in 'Observe and Report'

'Observe and Report' might not make you laugh, but it's funny.

By Patrick Daugherty

Published April 13, 2009

The term "black comedy" is used often, but hardly ever correctly. For example, according to Internet Movie Database, IMDB.com, "Thank You For Smoking" is a black comedy. According to life, it is not.

"Observe and Report" is truly a black comedy, though. Seth Rogen's Ronnie Barnhardt, head of mall security, is a delusional, bipolar nutso who seeks justice the way boxers seek knockouts. He is an unflinching, power-hungry goon.

But Rogen doesn't do bipolar the way Adam Sandler would. We are not given the cliché one minute he's dancing through meadows highs contrasted with sledge-hammering an ex-girlfriend's car lows that bipolar disorder as which is often portrayed. His manner is alarmingly consistent and shockingly unpredictable. Ronnie Barhnardt is a character you truly don't know just what he's going to do next, and it really is scary and uncomfortable.

Still, this being a comedy from the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen universe, "Observe" does have its fair share of dick and poop jokes and a good deal of low-hanging fruit is picked. But where most of these movies gun simply for laughs, "Observe" strives for atmosphere. Thankfully, young director Jody Hill can do atmosphere astonishingly well.

It is apparent from the opening credits, where The Band's classic "When I Paint My Masterpiece" soundtracks a montage of Ronnie's mall that Hill is a master craftsman in the making and "Observe and Report" isn't just another Rogen comedy full of endless riffing and weed smoking.

Its measured sense of place and purpose are in stark contrast to the mile-a-minute joke-a-thons comedy fans have grown accustomed to (and weary of). Hill takes the time to establish a presence and persona for his characters that goes beyond being loud and escalating one-upsmanship fights such as "The 40 Year Old Virgin" "you-know-how-I-know-you're-gay" scene (though Rogen and Aziz Ansari, playing a lotion salesman named Saddamn, do have a fairly memorable exchange early on).

He has also cast the right people to play their often sick and edgy parts. Michael Pena is hilarious as Barnhart's unsavory, drug addled No. 2 while Celia Weston is uncomfortably realistic (yet hysterical) as Ronnie's alcoholic mom.

Then of course, there is "the pervert" (Randy Gambill) whose 1-second lines are funnier than most entire movies and Danny McBride, whose cameo clears up any remaining confusion -- he is the funniest man alive right now.

Hill being so adept at doing the little things makes it easy to gloss over some of "Observe"'s more obvious flaws and gives it the feel of a classic, even if it doesn't quite make it there.

Rarely laugh-out-loud funny, Hill and Rogen chug "Observe and Report" along on sheer audacity and unpredictably, which in the end makes it more amusing, fascinating and yes, more funny than 99 percent of the comedies out there. You might giggle more at "I Love You, Man," but there's no way you'll think it's funnier.