The world has no use for another scared man. Right now, the world needs a f*cking hero.
- Ronnie Barnhardt

Seth Rogen has seemingly been showing up all over the place. Even as I have been watching movies and television which are a few years older, sure enough, Mr Rogen is there. As of late, Seth Rogen is seemingly one of the few remaining bankable comedy actors. Almost everything he has touched has gone on to be loved by fans or become a money making vehicle. That being said, we are looking at the Jody Hill directed, Observe and Report

Now the first thing to take into account is that very closely to each other, there were two different mall cop movies released. This, however, is where those similarities will end. Observe and Report is a dark comedy about a mall cop, Ronnie Barnhardt, portrayed by Seth Rogen, who is a mentally disturbed individual. He takes his job very seriously and commands respect from his back up of men which include John and Matt Yuan who play, get ready, John and Matt Yuen. Genius...Right? Anyways, his first in command is Dennis, played by Michael Pena. These men will with out a doubt, do almost anything to back up security lead Ronnie.

The movie gets going by having a larger man running around the parking lot flashing and yelling at the potential mall patrons. Soon after we meet the object of Ronnie's affection, Brandi, being played by the often enjoyable Anna Faris. Faris plays a self indulged party animal who works at a cosmetic booth inside the mall. Ronnie wants nothing more than to impress Brandi. Along with Ronnie's love for Brandi, Ronnie's other goal in his life is to become a real life police officer, which becomes difficult as Ronnie is not exactly police officer material.

The movie brings the audience for a ride through a few days of Ronnie's life. During this we get to see that Ronnie still lives at home with his mother and really has no other life other than being a mall cop, trying to be a police officer and to win Brandi's affection. We also get a taste of what Ronnie's mom is like. Ronnie's mom is a alcoholic who supports her son in everything which adds to the delusion that Ronnie has more power than he really does. This is put to the test when Detective Harrison is brought in to follow up on this chronic flasher. Harrison is played by Ray Liotta.

Liotta seemingly tolerates Ronnie at the beginning but quickly becomes annoyed as Ronnie continually tries to show his dominance as well as he tends to make life difficult for the detective as he is always in the way and complicating things. Eventually Ronnie gets to go for what he thinks is going to be a ride along. For his ride along, Ronnie sneaks his way into Harrison's police car and demands he gets a ride along. Liotta's character eventually obliges and takes Ronnie for his ride along and leaves him in a less than desirable area. Because of this, Ronnie is confronted by some street thugs to which he progresses to fight his way out of. This also brings about an interesting cameo by Danny McBride.

As the story progresses, we get a few twists and turns as well as an interesting drug scene. Throughout the movie, we do get to see how disturbed the Ronnie character rally is. Ray Liotta plays his role adequately enough but does not add much to the role. Anna Faris is enjoyable as the stuck up cosmetics girl and plays the role very well. The secondary cast does not evolve very much, although in this film it is not required. The real horse of the movie is Rogen as he plays a very different role than usual. He seems to embody the character and makes the audience believe someone could be this deranged. To this point, this may be Rogen's most diverse work and shows that he may yet have some range.

The coup de gras is the ending however. The ending is both shocking and disturbing and puts a definitive end to the initial issue. That being said, the character of Ronnie seems to have not changed come the end. His priorities are somewhat adjusted but the character really just creates a circle.

So all in all, this is as advertised. This is a dark comedy basically the polar opposite of Paul Blart. Not a movie for everyone but for the people who enjoyed films such as Pineapple Express, also starring Rogen, they should enjoy this. The movie was a pleasant surprise as it is very different from what is out there. Now go out there and be the best mall cop you can be.