Observe and Report

No slushy, $1 Tickets, post-wide release films, pre-stadium style seating: Cinema 6. Yes for all of you young guns of the Centre County who remember this being the "nice" theater in town, I tell you I just revisited that magical place where I saw cineMAGIC such as Titanic, Independence Day, and Pearl Harbor (Titanic part Deux sans Boat). As with my previous post, nothing of interest has been in the theater and since I missed this little Rogen vehicle several weeks ago I was looking forward to catching it. So I know this is not a brand spanking, still covered in membrane release and crying release, but if you see it in the theater it's still a release to me heres what I have to observe and report on Observe and Report.
First off, not what I expected at all. Not that I necessarily disliked it, but just wasn't what I had planned on seeing. I guess I went in looking for more of a Seth Rogen from Pineapple Express meets and clone babies of Seth Rogen in Super Bad. Saddly this is not the character that turns out. Instead there is some strange depression and the character actually plays out extremely odd and not funny. As for his co-stars, Ray Liotta really doesn't bring anything at all to the table, not funny or mean, just reading lines to me. It was exciting to see Anna Faris in a role outside of Scary Movie, then I realized although the movie wasn't in that realm, her acting still was. As for his fellow security guards, Michael Pena, Yuen Brothers and Jesse Plemons, all deliver a good show and really helped to keep me distracted from the creepiness of Rogen's character as Ronny. Aziz Ansari is really coming up in the world and could be the new big thing in character funny in Hollywood, he is the token Indian guy now, and he is nailing it. For the best performance though, I have to hand it to Collette Wolfe as Nell, I actually felt for her character and she made me want to jump on screen and punch Ronny for not seeing her signals, which means she had my attention throughout the film.
As for this strange creepiness, I don't know if maybe he wasn't casted correctly, just didn't bring it to the table, or if Jody Hill just lost it as a director. I will say in Hill's offense that some of the shots were great and the montages in the beginning were solid. Not to mention the ending of the film wrapped up well, and I especially liked the use of the slow motion in the end that really helped to close out the film. Although Rogen did not show his best skills in this film for the most part, I will say in the last 10 minutes of the film, he may have his best screen time yet, a new character emerges and it really is believable and new for even Rogen.
Nothing too crazy in the special FX or Cinematography department, all pretty simple stuff I thought that Tim Orr as DP kept the camera and crew on an even keel. As for the soundtrack though, I thought it was excellent for the film. All of the songs seemed to fit great and helped to add that extra element to each scene, so hats off to Joseph Stephens for a solid OST.
All in all I am glad I only paid a buck to watch this film, I mean it was cheaper than renting it, and Cinema 6 isn't that bad when it's not packed with teeny boppers and families with crying kids. As for the film, I think besides Rogen's off-the-mark acting it also comes down to the idea of a director/writer being able to "kill their babies." This concept of cutting certain things seemed to leave Hill when it hit the cutting rooms, and hopefully Jody learned that sometimes you have to pull the trigger and get rid of some things maybe just "you" find funny. So if I was you, watch this movie on cable when it comes out, but don't go out of your way for it.
Banan-a-meter: 4.3/10 Bananas