Observe and Report [Blu-ray]

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/22/2009 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: R

With sublime awkwardness, Seth Rogen throws himself into the role of a deluded, socially inept shopping mall security guard. Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen) protects his little kingdom with a mixture of grandiose passion and borderline incompetence; he can’t catch a flasher in the parking lot or a thief with inside connections because his prejudices and desires cloud his ability to see what’s right in front of him--all he can see is the trashy cosmetics salesgirl Brandi (Anna Faris) who thinks he’s nothing but a creep. Though he resents the intrusion of a police detective (Ray Liotta), Ronnie decides to pursue his true dream: Becoming a cop so he can carry a gun. The plot isn’t what matters in Observe and Report--this comedy is about letting talented actors create strange characters with enough roots in reality to make them very, very funny. Even the supporting actors shine with a mixture of weirdness and banality, including Michael Peña (Crash) as Ronnie’s sidekick who turns out to have a secret life, and Celia Weston (Junebug) as Ronnie’s boozing and wildly inappropriate mother. Writer/director Jody Hill (The Fist Foot Way) has a gift for pushing an ordinary moment into comic exaggeration, though he doesn’t always find the right balance; every now and then Observe and Report veers into territory that’s funny, but undercuts the movie’s internal reality, and there are several moments of unexpectedly graphic violence that will make some viewers recoil. But when the movie hits the mark--and it does so more often than not--Hill and Rogen tap into a rich vein of humor that stands apart from the usual Hollywood formula gags. --Bret Fetzer