They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That may be the case but it sure doesn’t usually lead to good films. Hollywood has a tendency to copy films that are successful at the box office in the hope that something similar will have to do well, right? That leads them to copy both good and bad films with predictable results. This year it was the mall cop genre that received the copying treatment. With Paul Blart Mall Cop doing so well at the box office, you just knew that another film featuring an overweight and intellectually challenged mall cop would be following and it did, namely Observe and Report, which is the subject matter of today’s review.

Film

There is really no way to sugarcoat this one folks. This is an awful film in every respect. In fact, it is one of the worst films I have ever seen, making Santa Claus Conquers the Martians seem like high art in comparison. The film is dumb, nasty and vulgar and really and insult to you intelligence. None of the jokes are funny, the characters obnoxious and the writing dreadful. The actors all mail in their performances looking for that quick paycheck. Yes, it is really that bad and is the first film I felt so strongly about to give a 0 rating.

The film stars Seth Rogan as Ronnie Barnhardt, a cop at the local mall who has a dream of being a real policeman. He also has a dream of having sex with a blonde behind the cosmetics counter at the department store played by Anna Faris who was much funnier in The House Bunny. Ronnie gets all preoccupied with capturing a flasher who has been plaguing the mall and runs afoul of the law when he takes his activities too far in trying to pursue the flasher. There is really nothing positive I can say about this film. if you must see, go ahead but don’t complain that I didn’t warn you. You would be much better off if you skipped this one entirely.

Video

While I hated the film, the video here was acceptable but not without its flaws. The film features a bright and bold color palette with eye popping blues, especially the mall cop uniforms. Flesh tones are accurate for the most part. Blacks are deep and stable. It is in the areas of detail and clarity where the video runs into trouble for me. In the close up shots, detail is OK but far from reference. You just aren’t able to make out all of the details in the actor’s faces or background details, appearing that there is this very thin film between you and the image, slightly softening the image and obscuring some of the detail. This is especially evident in more distant shots which look a bit softer than even the tight shots. This same effect also negatively effects the clarity of the overall image. Otherwise, the image is quite pleasing. I wish I could say the same about the film.

Audio

I was not expecting a bombastic soundtrack and in this regard I was not disappointed. However, the lossless audio track does have its moments. I felt that the bass response was quite good. This was especially evident in the musical track which had excellent bass response. it was also quite evident in the sound effects, especially the gun shots, which had excellent weight and heft and sounded very convincing. The overall sound was good, sounding smooth but without the degree of openness and transparency that are the hallmarks of the top tiered releases. The dialogue track though was well recorded and well placed in the soundfield, which given the quality of the screenplay, turned out not to be a good thing. The surrounds were not used very aggressively and as a result, the mix is a bit front heavy. The mix did have its moments though, such as when a car crashed through the mall entrance, where very good use was made of the surrounds. Those moments were few and far between however.

Special Features

While there are several extras here, the content is as bad as the film. The extras feature deleted and alternate takes of scenes that were awful to begin with and even worse in their extended and alternate versions. The extras feature a gag reel that is not funny at all and where the laughs feel totally forced as though the gag reel was scripted. Even worse is the featurette Seth Rogen and Anna Faris: Unscripted, where you get to see ALL of the takes that were shot during their dinner date scene, with Anna Faris improvising her lines again and again. The printed take in the film was bad enough!

Also included is a featurette Basically Training where you can witness the transformation of Seth Rogen from a comedian (?) to mall cop as well as the truly awful Forest Ridge Mall Security Recruitment Video which is even worse than the film. Also included is a commentary track featuring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris and the director Jody Hill commenting on the film. I can’t really think of anything positive to say about any of the supplemental materials. The set does come with a digital copy of the film compatible with Macs and PCs and is BD-Live enabled.

Final Thoughts

Observe and Report is one of the worst films I have ever seen and can’t really recommend it all all. SKIP IT! You will never get those two hours of your life back.