Movie Reviews: "Observe and Report"

[JamesG]

Movie Reviews: Observe and Report
10 April 2009 2:41 AM, PDT

Several reviewers observe that Observe and Report is a "departure" for Seth Rogen. He's no longer the cuddly-bear character of previous films. And the movie is "darker" than his previous films.

But the reviewers are divided on whether that's good or bad.

Mick Lasalle in the San Francisco Chronicle comments that the movie is "as harsh and nasty as comedy can be, and if anything, it gets ruder and more outlandish as it goes along. Yet the acting -- this is key -- stays grounded in truth."

Lou Lumenick in the New York Post praises it as "disturbingly humorous" and remarks that it's "admirable for venturing into very dark places rarely glimpsed in big-studio comedies ... like (gulp) date rape."

On the other hand, Manohla Dargis writes in the New York Times: "It's hard to see what is so bold about a film that, much like the world outside the theater, turns the pain and humiliation of other people into a consumable spectacle."

Then there's the middle position, taken by Rafer Guzmán in Newsday: "Observe and Report is a fearlessly weird comedy -- possibly too fearless. ... Be prepared for the laughs to stick in your throat."

And Liam Lacey concludes in the Toronto Globe and Mail: "Observe and Report is one of those comedies that is more peculiar than actually funny,"

-IMDB News