Blu-ray Movie Reviews

At the Forest Ridge Mall, head of security Ronnie Barnhardt patrols his jurisdiction with an iron fist. The master of his domain, he combats skateboarders, shoplifters and the occasional unruly customer while dreaming of the day when he can swap his flashlight for a badge and a gun. Ronnie's delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall is struck by a flasher. Driven by his personal duty to protect and serve the mall and its patrons, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his underappreciated law enforcement talents on a grand scale, hoping his solution of this crime will earn him a coveted spot at the police academy and the heart of his elusive dream girl Brandi, the hot makeup counter clerk who won't give him the time of day. But his single-minded pursuit of glory launches a turf war with the equally competitive Detective Harrison of the Conway Police, and Ronnie is confronted with the challenge of not only catching the flasher, but getting him before the real cops do.

Seth Rogen has been making quite the name for himself in the comedy scene these last few years and I was curious to see how he’d hold up in a departure from his typical Apatow related projects. Observe and Report doesn’t have quite the comedic chops as most of the Apatow productions we’ve seen lately, but it does pack some solid laughs. The film is a bit cut and dry and nothing we haven’t seen before, but the back and forth with Rogen and Liotta makes for some memorable moments. Faris is underused as the typecast blonde and I hope she doesn’t find herself playing the would be bimbo for the rest of her career.

Warner delivers a pretty solid presentation for this one. Dimension and detail are strong, though fine object detail was a tad below reference. The film’s color palette is very natural and contrast levels are pretty strong. I didn’t notice anything in the way of compression artifacts.

The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is also solid with some great soundtrack selections to heighten the experience. Bass levels are a tad cooked, but only add to the comic relief and are obviously baked by choice. Dialogue sounds very natural in timbre and directionality is excellent.

Warner delivers a 2-disc set for this one with a digital copy included on the second disc for your portable device. You also get some funny extras including some behind the scenes stuff, a picture in picture commentary with the director and Faris and some outtakes from on the set. Some deleted scenes and a gag reel are also included.

This one is fun enough as a rental but not quite the comic classis it was hoping to become. Rogen still proves he is one of the funnier actors out there though and manages to carry the film nicely.