By their own admission, "Superbad" (2007) co-writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg based the film's characters Seth and Evan on their loserish but horny high school selves.
If that's true, then Goldberg got accepted to Dartmouth, while Rogen got the shaft.
Don't feel so bad for Rogen. He's a big star these days, and now the College -- purportedly the conveyor of the bad news during admissions -- extended an olive branch last week by presenting the actor's latest release, "Observe and Report" last Tuesday night in Spaulding Auditorium at the Hopkins Center.
The film was shown three days before its release nationwide and drew a considerable crowd.
The Dartmouth Film Society emphasized Rogen's involvement with "Observe and Report" (2009) in their promotions as much as possible, an approach that included sending a Blitzmail message to all of campus with the subject line "SETH ROGEN."
The irony, then, is that the real star of "Observe and Report" is not Rogen, but Will Ferrell -- or, to be more precise, Rogen's impersonation of the ex-Saturday Night Live comedian.
"Observe and Report" chronicles the story of Ronnie Barnhardt, head of security at a local mall. He lives in a trashy home with his mother and works with a seemingly inept staff. Still, Ronnie manages to harbor lofty delusions of grandeur. Despite his bumbling, obnoxious nature, Ronnie is surprisingly skilled at certain aspects of the security profession. To put it crudely, he knows how to kick ass.
You could easily fit Ronnie in the same category as any of Ferrell's heroic buffoons -- Ricky Bobby of "Talladega Nights" (2006), Ron Burgundy of "Anchorman" (2004) or Jackie Moon of "Semi-Pro" (2008). What's more, Rogen actually looks like Will Ferrell in his Ronnie Barnhardt make-up.
The imitation works surprisingly well because Rogen manages to do a Ferrell character better than Ferrell himself. Rogen -- a better actor than Ferrell -- is able to play a parodic man-child without making his performance itself a parody. In one scene, Ronnie smiles smugly after recounting a dream of a guns-blazing rampage -- which furthers his delusion that he is a great action hero. The way Rogen plays Ronnie, it's as if he has no awareness that his behavior is funny -- a brilliant demonstration of subtle acting.The film works quite well as a comedy. Much of it has to do with a bold script (written by Jody Hill, who also directed) that melds the shock-value of "Borat" (2006) with a surprisingly subtle lampoon of the action-hero genre.
As we follow Ronnie's major life quest -- to catch (or, in his own words, "murder") a notorious mall flasher -- the action defies many of the typical cliches of the renegade cop genre.
A standout example involves a showdown between Ronnie and the detective character, which is built up with a good 10 minutes of dramatic internal narration that sounds like something out of one of the recent "Batman" movies. Particularly attentive viewers will appreciate the satirical addition of the ubiquitous "dum dum" music after every dramatic statement. The entire sequence acts as a very well-placed critique of gritty action flicks that take themselves too seriously.
The film is also not afraid to deliver shocking and downright offensive twists for laughs. Be it Ronnie's highly objectionable sexual relations with a near passed-out drunk woman, or the impromptu graphic beatings of teenage skateboarders (complete with a skateboard realistically shattering over the head of a youth).
The film's shamelessly crosses lines that even the lewdest comedies are afraid to approach. The final climactic scene simply cannot be predicted; I have never seen such a deliciously absurd conclusion in a major studio release.
Overall, "Observe and Report" is an entertaining, but by no means revolutionary or groundbreaking, comedy.
While it has many fresh and hilarious moments, it mainly treads the same tired ground as every other recent movie starring a lovably insensitive schlub, including Ferrell's pantheon of films.
It's definitely worth watching in theaters -- just don't expect the originality and genre-redefinition that we got with "Superbad."
