Sorry if it's come up in New Films but I thought it was worth a thread.
Watched it last night and my gut reaction was hating it, but it's stuck with me all day. I think it's aspiring to be Bad Santa, or possibly not a comedy at all but something like King of Comedy. Anyway, it's relentlessly bleak and demanding you find it distasteful. Everyone in it in horrible, but in a way that makes you wonder why you're wasting your time watching them rather than be interested. Seth Rogen is hopelessly miscast, he's so Seth Rogen-y throughout which I can see why would make for interesting stunt casting but just becomes confusing. His presence also makes for jarring Apatow-esque 'hey guys just riff and I'll keep shooting' bits, like the
"fuck you" scene.
But there were a few BIG laughs for me,
the unexpected shooting at the end and Anna Faris being remarkably hilarious
proving that dribbling sick is umpteen times funnier than projectile vomit, see also the hateable "I Love You, Man" It's also infamous for a
date-rape scene - there's an interview with the director Jody Hill here
http://www.avclub.com/channels/observe-and-report/where he comes across as a really-not-nice man and that scene was supposed to be even worse, with no punchline. Personally i wasn't offended by it, cause it was trying so hard to shock, like the totally pointless heroin bit, it felt like reading Sickipedia or some other 'hey I said rape' internet thing. Seth Rogen's character is also meant to be a bi-polar off his meds, which just makes it SAD rather than funny - there's a resonant scene where
Ray Liotta's collegue hides in the cupboard so he can hear Ray tell Rogen he's not getting into the police academy, he pops out halfway through the conversation saying "I thought this would be funny but it's just sort of sad" I can't decide if that's brilliant or just taking the piss out the audience who are thinking the exact same thing.
The ending I think is interesting because it's going for a King of Comedy, Taxi Driver "is it all in their head" feel, but is such a loyal rip off it loses it's point.
the dowdy love interest suddenly gets a glamorous makeover, but then MENTIONS her new hairdo so it's not lost on the slower audience members, thanks for that But still, it's still churning round my head hours later. I know like, no one went to see this, thinking it was Paul Blart 2, but perhaps someone else has given it a go.