OBSERVE AND REPORT

US, 2009, 86 minutes, Colour.
Seth Rogan, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Anna Faris, John Ewan, Matt Ewan, Celia Weston, Collette Wolf.
Directed by Jodie Hill.

Not sure.

That's the immediate answer I would offer to someone asking me what the film was like. It's also the answer to how I felt about the film.

Seth Rogen has specialised in a number of raunchy and raucous comedies (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Zach and Miri). He can bring an intelligent stupidity to his roles as well as some beneath-the-surface sympathy. They're both here in this film – but which is the real character of Ronnie Barnhardt, the mall security guard chief that he plays? Some have commented that he is 'bi-polar' but I don't think that is a point that the writer-director, Jody Hill, wants to make. Speaking of Jody Hill, he has said that he wanted to make Taxi Driver as a comedy. Not sure about that either, but it is a useful, even stimulating suggestion.

The reason for listening to this suggestion is that Ronnie Barnhardt, like de Niro's Travis Bickle, the taxi driver, is a loner, despite living with his unpredictable drinking mother (Celia Weston in an offbeat role) and despite commanding the loyalty of his deputy, Hispanic Denis (Michael Pena cleverly funny) and Asian American twin assistant guards. Actually, like the taxi driver, he is a blindly patriotic American with a penchant for violent laying down of the law. While he does have comic moments, Ronnie seems to be an intended caricature of the American Right with extreme views on law and order, racist prejudices because of the war on terror (he calls one of the shop owners in the mall Saddam because of his looks), a might-is-right approach to life.

What is it with American films this year and malls? Kevin James was pleasantly innocent as Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Observe and Report is similar in plot in many ways but with these sinister overtones. Anna Farris who can do IQ-impaired blondes is really rather nasty here – Colette Wolfe, whose leg is in plaster, mocked by fellow workers, is the sympathetic foil for Ronnie.

What emphasises this dichotomy in Ronnie's good nature and his vigilante tendencies – which he does have a chance to indulge when the police deliberately abandon him in a very tough neighbourhood where he is able to beat up all the drug dealing assailants – is the casting of Ray Liotta as the detective investigating robberies as well as a flasher at the mall. Liotta can do over-the-top ranting better than most and does a bit of indulging here: which makes Ronnie a little bit more sympathetic but then makes us realise that Ronnie has this kind of potential and wants to fulfil it. His speech to the psychologist for his test for admission to the police academy needs listening to.

Despite being unsure, I would come down on the side of this film not being variation on the usual Seth Rogen comedies but see it, rather, as a very black comedy and satire on some of the more fascist tenets of the Right (actually former president Bush might enjoy it while taking it rather literally).

1.The impact of the film as comedy? Black comedy? Satire? Targets?

2.The mall setting and audiences identifying? Shops, parking, security, safety, crime? Police, management? The atmosphere? Personnel?

3.The title, application to Ronnie and his job, security chief, exercising power, his violent streak?

4.The usual Seth Rogan comedies, the cuddly type? Broad comedies with the touch of the raunchy? His screen persona, the touch of the slacker? The opposite of the slacker here? The change in screen presence, hair, beard? Comic and serious? The parody of the single-minded security guard? His mental condition, the comments about his being bipolar? Psychologically impaired? His desire to be an enforcer, his vigilante actions?

5.Ronnie and his life, committing himself to be the security guard, proud of the uniform? Denis as his assistant and yes-man? His dominance of the twins and their collaboration? Charlie as an apprentice, ordering him about? His liking for order, supervision, routines? The importance of the flasher and his pursuit? The robbery in the sports store? The police arrival, interactions with Detective Harrison? The issues of evidence, his preferring theories to evidence? His attacks on Harrison? Right and righteous?

6.Ronnie at home, his mother, his care for her, her love for her son, her drinking, collapsing? Talking things over? Her change to beer from spirits?

7.His infatuation with Brandi? Stalking her, talking, awkward? Her gay assistant? His presence, her embarrassment? Her experience of the flasher, his wanting to protect her, gentle talk? Seeing her with the sexual encounter, his upset, publicly denouncing her?

8.Nell, her leg in plaster, her being mocked by the employer and the staff, giving Ronnie the free copy, earnest, talking with him, their both being mutually needy? Ronnie attacking the boss on her behalf? His being upset, hurting her feelings? Her being healed, her meeting Ronnie, the coffee, a future?

9.Harrison and his work, the police force, his antagonism towards Ronnie and his interference, his theories? The tough cop? Pretending to be helpful? Abandoning Ronnie in the neighbourhood with the druggies and the violent people? Ronnie, rising to the occasion, the arrest of the boy, the attack of the druggies, his martial arts, arresting the boy? Grateful to Harrison? Misreading the situation?

10.Ronnie wanting to join the police, his motivation? The forms? The discussion with the policeman, the interviews, his going through the training, the psychologist and his talk about violent action?

11.The manager of the mall, having to deal with Ronnie, with the police?

12.The flasher, in the parking lot, exhibitionist, in the mall, running, chasing? Appearing naked? Frightening Brandi? Ronnie and his pursuit, the arrest?

13.Denis, Hispanic, assisting Ronnie, backing him up, yes-man, praising him? His confession, the drugs, the robbery of the store, his escape, the message to Ronnie?

14.The twins, Asian-Americans?, the comic foil for supervision? Charlie, apprentice, Ronnie keeping him as the trainee, graduation, working with Ronnie?

15.The parody of might is right attitudes, righteous attitudes? A film made at the end of the Bush era in the United States?

16.The writer-director’s declaration that he wanted to make Taxi Driver as a comedy – effective or not?