Review of Observe and Report (2009) by Thomas W — 20 Jan 2012

Seth Rogan may have established himself as an character icon for the hipster generation, but movies such as Observe and Report show that he has much greater potential to become a serious actor. Many walking into this movie walk away from it shaking their heads, expecting yet another crazy yet naive jumble of gags and one-liners, but getting a heavy dose of black comedy instead. Rogan's Ronnie is not a loveable, goofy underachiever - he is a messed-up emotional wreck with serious self-control problems and a criminal violent streak that he manages to integrate (to the audience's ultimate horror) into everyday life.

See, In his own mind he is a hero who stands for what is good and right with the world - in reality, he is a severe depressive with major delusions, a date rapist, and narcisscist who justifies his crimes both through the filter of his self-contained world and the assistance of those around him. When he is ultimately hailed as a hero at film's end, we recoil in horror...but not just from his actions, but from the small part of us that reveals that might actually have approved of at least one of his decisions.