Observe and Report (2009)
Directed by Jody Hill
Mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt is called into action to stop a flasher from turning shopper's paradise into his personal peep show. But when Barnhardt can't bring the culprit to justice, a surly police detective is recruited to close the case.
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5 films that influenced Observe and Report
What critics say influenced Observe and Report
Regardless, Jody Hill’s comic twist on “Taxi Driver” hardened Rogen’s onscreen heart and Hanna-Barbera face for his most unexpected performance.
Plenty of people have already compared the film to Taxi Driver , and there seems to be no reason not to add to the pile; Hill's film is similar enough to Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader that it would be hard to believe that it wasn't his intent from the outset.
In a script that was reportedly inspired by “Taxi Driver,” Seth Rogen gives the best performance of his career to date as Ronnie Barnhardt, a bipolar mall security guard with serious mental issues.
Comparisons to “Taxi Driver” are quite apt, with Hill and Rogen instilling Ronnie with the same soufflé of psychosis that created an iconic screen antihero in Travis Bickle.
With admirably funkiness and bold flavor, Hill has made the anti-Blart...but at a time when we've seen seven mass shootings in a month, do we really need the comedy version of Taxi Driver?
He must be unhinged and pitiable, frightening and funny, morally repellent and yet identifiably human, something like Robert DeNiro's Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy.
But there may be echoes stronger still of The King of Comedy and the grand delusions of Rupert Pupkin.
There hasn’t been a worthwhile mainstream comedy as dark since “Bad Santa,” and you’d probably have to go all the way back to Martin Scorsese's “The King of Comedy” to find a dark comedy made with a higher level of controlled artistry.
Scattered amid the carnage are sly references to Miller’s Crossing (“Look in your heart”), Barry Manilow (whose hit “Mandy” was originally titled “Brandy”), and Goodfellas (the words “in the fucking oven you’ll go” are never spoken, but the implicit threat is there), as well as the best joke ever likely to be occasioned by a Chick-fil-A franchise.
Those ads are like suckering family viewers into a Kevin Smith movie by advertising that he did a voice in the animated “ Doogal ” or pitching “ Tropic Thunder ” to the crowds that really liked that family-friendly Ben Stiller in “ Night at the Museum ”.
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His use of musicfrom the folksy, borderline-whimsical score by Joseph Stephens, to quirky choice soundtrack cuts by The Band, The Yardbirds, Little River Band, and City Wolf (performing a cover of The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?")indelibly services the images, photographed with flair and aplomb by cinematographer Tim Orr (2008's " Sex Drive ").