The Movie Nut

MPAA rating: R

In "Observe and Report," Seth Rogan plays Ronnie Barnhardt, the head of security at Forest Ridge Mall (no, this has nothing to do with "Paul Blart," in case you were wondering).

Ronnie takes his job way too seriously.

One day the mall's parking lot is hit by a flasher, then some night robberies take place inside. Ronnie makes it his life mission to catch the flasher and the robber, not just in hopes of becoming a real police officer but mainly to get the attention of his dream girl Brandi (Anna Faris), a makeup counter clerk.

In order to catch the criminals, Ronnie creates a "mall task force" with best friend Dennis (Michael Peña) and twins Matt and John Yuen (played by Matt and John Yuan).

I don't know if Dennis' lisp is supposed to be funny, but it isn't, so why have it? The Yuen twins only nod and grunt throughout the movie. Maybe they had trouble remembering their lines and, to make it easier for them, they were given names in the movie almost identical to their real ones.

Half the time all these guys are together they just stand around posing, pretending to act cool when they're actually doing nothing except making us think about other things, such as what's for dinner.

But the main problem with the film is its main focus—Ronnie. It's not that Rogan does a bad job portraying him; it's just that he is such an unlikable character. He pretends to shoot people and likes to beat up kids. Are we supposed to find it amusing when Ronnie starts to beat up a group of police officers?

I don't know about you, but I think this guy needs to see a psychiatrist. Are we supposed to like him because he's Seth Rogan?

If we don't like the main character, we don't care what happens to him. And if we don't care about the plot, the film becomes pointless.

"Observe and Report," is classified as a dark comedy. Although it's easy to find the dark parts, you have to look harder for the comedy. The movie is filled with a lot of hit-and-miss jokes (mostly misses). Occasionally Rogan will deliver a funny line, and Anna Faris makes the most of the little she has, but most of the time the jokes fall flat.

There's a lot of brutal violence, and most of the jokes make fun of people with handicaps. "Observe and Report," lacks the charisma of other comedies, such as "Superbad" and "I Love You, Man."

All in all, "Observe and Report" is a vulgar and unfunny movie, and you shouldn't waste your time with it.

This week's Movie Nut was written by Matt Dworman, a student at Agoura High School, participating in AHS's Operation Shadow program.