Observe and Report (4/5 Stars) April 11, 2009

I recommend Observe and Report not because it’s funny (it isn’t really), but because it actually did remind me of such early Scorsese pictures like Taxi Diriver, Raging Bull, and especially The King of Comedy. Plus it also contains the first definitive proof that Seth Rogan can act.

Observe and Report is by no means a mainstream Seth Rogen comedy. It is a jet-black comedy about desperate and delusional people. It was written and directed by Jody Hill, who had previously made The Foot Fist Way, a movie about a bullying kung fu instructor played by Danny McBride. Like the main character in that movie, Seth Rogen’s mall cop (named Ronnie Barnhardt) is a none-too-bright aggressive and self-important asshole. He finds some purpose when a pervert starts flashing people in the parking lot, including the woman he has a crush on, a dimwitted ditz named Brandi (played courageously by Anna Faris) that sells cosmetics. What is Ronnie Barnhardt going to do? In his own words, spoken to a news reporter, he’s going to “Murder the M*****F*****!!!” And he means it. What becomes apparent very quick is that Ronnie is a seriously disturbed individual. Disturbed to the point that the laughs in this supposed comedy are quickly stifled and replaced with nervous tittering and incredulous ‘Did they just go there?’ knee-jerk reactions.
It sometimes amazes me whom the movies can make me empathize with. Ronnie Barnhardt is not a good person. He beats up skateboarders, he yells at children, he calls a Middle Eastern vendor Saddam Hussein, and I’m pretty sure you can classify what he does to Brandi as date rape. (I’m very surprised that scene is being treated as supposedly funny by the trailers. It’s not funny in the movie, and I don’t think it was really meant to be anything than the inevitable conclusion to a date between two very flawed people. If anyone is laughing, I think it’s simply not to cry. Which is what I believe is the natural reaction people have to most black comedies). But this movie also instills in Ronnie’s thick skull certainly noble, yet delusional ideas. Like Don Quixote he seems to be on some sort of incredible quest against imaginary forces. He’s sees himself as the guardian of all the very weak other people in mall. Who’s he fighting? Well, there’s the pervert and a robber, but his biggest enemy seems to be the actual police. Ray Liotta plays a cop who becomes Ronnie’s object of scorn simply because he steals his thunder by invading his jurisdiction. According to Ronnie he is completely incompetent. In reality, of course, it’s Ronnie who’s incompetent, but the guy is so far gone any polite attempts to explain that to him falls on deaf ears. So what Liotta eventually does is drop Ronnie off on an incredibly dangerous street corner in the middle of the night. This is where the movie first got scary because the story had instilled so much blind stupidity and aggressive stubbornness in this character that I thought it somewhat inevitable that Ronnie would get seriously injured or killed. And that’s when it hit me. I actually cared whether Ronnie would get killed or not. Somehow, Hill’s story and Rogen’s acting made me care about this guy. He certainly deserved everything he got, but I secretly wanted him to succeed and you know be happy. 
Jody Hill must know someone like this because I sense that this movie isn’t entirely making fun of Ronnie Barnhardt. There is genuine concern for this guy. One scene is especially telling: Liotta tells Ronnie that he can’t be a cop because he failed his psychiatric evaluation. Another cop hides in the closet because he thinks it’s going to be funny. But seeing Ronnie’s dreams fall apart isn’t funny, it’s just sad, and the guy admits that as he leaves.
I compare this movie to those early Scorsese pictures because they all are candid and unflinching portraits about irredeemable people. The big difference is that Jody Hill is not as good a technical director as Scorsese is, but the picture’s heart is in the right place. 
Until this movie Seth Rogen had never really played a character, only versions of himself. In a way this is the first serious role he’s ever had. I think it does an good job. Whether, like Adam Sandler who proved he could act in Punch Drunk Love and then went straight back to dumb comedies, it’s anyone’s guess if Seth does more roles like this. It’s good to know that he can though. 
Anna Faris, one of my favorite actresses, is also very good. This is a totally fearless performance. I mean could Brandi be anymore of a stupid tramp. It just shows how delusional the Ronnie character is that he would be interested in her. As of right now, it’s the best performance by an actress this year. I’ve only seen three movies so that doesn’t say much. I’ll bring it up again if anyone else does a better job.
Another actor I’m fond of, Michael Pena, I didn’t even recognize until a long time after I left the theater. He plays Ronnie’s sleazy right hand man. I can’t believe this is the same dude who was in Crash and World Trade Center. He just seemed so noble in those films. He plays such an awful person in this movie it really is eye-opening. But hey I can say that about the entire film. 
By the way, what is going on in the Great Basin lately. It seems like there’s a cinematic renaissance going on down there that excels in telling stories about desperate losers reaching for impossible dreams. In the past few years we have had Little Miss Sunshine, Hamlet 2, and now Observe and Report. I hate to say this about Arizona and New Mexico, but that godforsaken desert is the perfect location for these types of movies.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend 07/27/06

:fresh: I have found that in my life there is only a fine line between what is cheesy and what is cool. They have the same basic elements and from a distance look quite the same. What separates them is whether I like it or not. Something I like is cool. Something I don't is not. 
I bet I could change places with a film critic, say the same exact sentences, describe the same exact scenes, and pontificate on the same exact desperate implausibility of this movie but come away with a different conclusion about it. I think it's cool. Everyone else thinks it's cheesy. 
Looking back on my reviews, I find that I give much more fresh tomatoes than rotten tomatoes. I'm beginning to think that the real difference between regular critics and me is that maybe just maybe I like movies, in general, just a little bit more.
To think we've all heard complaints about the amount of sequels and rip-offs in Hollywood. The end of originality and all that crap. We'll I've seen two incredibly original comedies this summer (Nacho Libre and My Super Ex-Girlfriend) and they truly aren't getting the respect they deserve. No wonder Hollywood makes sequels galore when we truly tend to embrace the mediocre. 
This movie is funny first of all. I laughed the entire way through. It had everything. From quiet facial twitches to huge special effects shots. Comedy, Adventure, Sex, Romance, The Human Problem. It has more insights into what being a superhero might actually feel like in one scene than "Superman Returns" had in an entire movie.
And it's cast superbly. Uma Thurman as the supervixen. Great! Luke Wilson as the normal everyday guy. Inspired! Wanda Sykes and Rainn Wilson as flat one-dimensional clowns. Perfect! and Anna Faris, one of the best woman comedians out there. (Not to mention incredibly beautiful).
What's more is I never knew what would happen next. This is one of those movies where I had a set view of what was going to happen when I came in. (I based it off the minute and a half preview.) But instead of going where I thought it would go, it bounced all over the place and took me by surprise half the time. True I was a bit dissapointed that my own vision had not come apparent on the screen, but I'm not about to be bitter about that sort of thing. It was still funny, and they pulled off everything and more that I thought they could accomplish. 
They had one of those great Seinfeld endings that all comedies, I think, should strive for. Through twists and turns, everyone ends up in the same room. Not forced, not predictable. It was smooth and seemed so easy. Seamless and easy. As we all know, for a comedy, that's one of the hardest and the greatest things it can do.

Brokeback Mountain 02/03/06

Two guys take jobs as ranch hands, spend a whole summer, and fall in love. It should end there but the whole world is against them. The world eventually wins and this romance becomes a tragedy. Such is the case of Brokeback Mountain, which for good reasons has scored alot of recognition this awards season. Not just because it's about gay cowboys, and this is Hollywood. It's getting recognition because it is a real story that gets all of the details right. (As far as I can tell)
However is this movie better than all the others this year. Does it deserve the best picture? In my humble opinion no. I would compare this movie to other best picture winners like Dances with Wolves, and Out of Africa. Yes they are great movies, yes they deserve recognition, but whoever watches these anymore. I can tell you this, I probably won't see Brokeback Mountain again. It's too long and moves too slow and once you've seen a great landscpe do you really get the same thrill in watching it again. 
Not saying that this movie is bad, but there are better ones out there this year. Here are my top five movies I'm thinking of buying this year. I will definitely watch these movies more than once. 1. King Kong 2. Pride and Prejudice 3. Matchpoint 4. Walk the Line 5. The 40-year old Virgin. These are movies I would want to see nominated this year. 
Here are the movies that were nominated instead: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, and Munich. (I have yet too see Crash). All good movies, but are they the best. There is a bias in the academy, I think, towards drama, and against comedy, adventure, and remakes. In my opinion it is just as hard to make a superior comedy than it is to make a superior drama. So in that course of logic, hopefully we would have a balance of those genres, but it seems that there are certain films that we feel obligated to nominate whether they really deserve it or not. This hurts twofold. It brings a film attention that doesn't deserve it, and much more harmful: it takes away attention from films that do deserve our praise. (i.e. Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, When Harry Met Sally..., Groundhog Day, There's Something about Mary) It really is a shame. Someday I hope that comedies and comedians get more credit. There's as much good in making people laugh as there is in making them cry.