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 inObserve 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 thenObserve and Reportveers into territory that’s funny, but undercuts the movie’s internal reality, and there are several moments of unexpectedly graphic violence that will...
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