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Observe And Report - 20/4/2009 1:05:56 PM   
Empire Admin

 

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Meh - 20/4/2009 1:05:57 PM   
CHUFFSTER

 

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Rogan is overrated

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oops - 20/4/2009 1:06:24 PM   
CHUFFSTER

 

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Rogen even...

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YES!!! - 21/4/2009 2:12:46 AM   
mighty mick

 

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I'm so glad Dan Jolin made the same comparison to Travis Bickle I made when I posted my comment on the last Observe & Report newsfeed! (give me a staff job!!) Other than that, I completely agree with the review as a whole.

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Post #: 4
Loved it - 21/4/2009 12:05:40 PM   
AboyNamedSue

 

Posts: 283
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Fucked up and brilliant. Really liked how it didn't put itself in a box at all.

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RE: Observe And Report - 22/4/2009 10:07:27 AM   
spyro

 

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Mr/s Empire - Did you even bother to spell check this review before posting it ?

'Seth Rogen is a one-Mmn comedy army.'

'....Rogen as an actor, are deserving ofa more complex,.....'




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QA - 22/4/2009 12:45:48 PM   
boriordan

 

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Jesus this website is a mess.

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You could not be more wrong - 24/4/2009 6:52:34 PM   
benmorse

 

Posts: 3
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The Cable Guy, Fight Club, and now Observe and Report. Edgy films have a history of being misinterpreted on release by reviewers who are expecting what the marketing department have promised. The reaction to the film being far grittier, darker and funnier than the marketing department had adequately prepped for is often the review above - a shame really.
Observe and Report is to comedy as Fight Club was to the buddy movie. By leagues Rogen's best performance, Layered, uncomfortable and grimly hilarious, anyone who has seen Hill's Eastbound and Down will know what to expect from the tone. The film scrapes the belly of trash America - where Eastbound utilises washed up Baseball players and their suburban nightmares, the everytown stripmall here is mined for all it can offer. Racist police, firearms-obsessed morons and unpleasant bosses are all unflinchingly used for uncomfortable laughs. The film treads a very careful line, using an Unreliable Narrator (it's a convention - look it up) to dollop on moments of ultra-violence, whole scenes that could well just be a construct of Ronnie's fevered imagination, and a climax that will have you howling with laughter at something massively innapropriate.
Minor tonal issues and a couple of un-used plot threads (I KNOW you love Danny McBride, Jody Hill, but he doesn't fit here - and what was with the coffee? finish that thread, already) this is the darkest, funniest film since In Bruges, and comes highly recommended.
Unless you go in expecting Knocked Up 2. In which case do yourself a favour and read the two star reviews.

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RE: You could not be more wrong - 24/4/2009 11:35:02 PM   
Clarence_Worley


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Hilarious film that strays away from many of the cliches you would expect.

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RE: Observe And Report - 25/4/2009 2:50:56 PM   
Bezerker


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quote:

ORIGINAL: spyro

Mr/s Empire - Did you even bother to spell check this review before posting it ?

'Seth Rogen is a one-Mmn comedy army.'

'....Rogen as an actor, are deserving ofa more complex,.....'




What is this world coming to? Two entire typos? This website is just chaos.

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RE: Observe And Report - 25/4/2009 3:47:07 PM   
BatFan


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The last 5 minutes to this were fucking amazing. One of the best endings to a comedy i've seen. Me and my friends were in a mixture of intense shock and crying with laughter.

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RE: Observe And Report - 25/4/2009 7:43:22 PM   
lloyddobler


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3 stars!! This movie was awesome. Such a great lead performance and such a great character as well as an ending that made you want to stand up and cheer. I wish I had this on DVD as I wanted to watch it again straight after it ended.

In a few years this will be considered a five star classic.



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RE: Observe And Report - 25/4/2009 10:53:33 PM   
Lex Romero


Posts: 412
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From: southampton
quote:

ORIGINAL: lloyddobler

3 stars!! This movie was awesome. Such a great lead performance and such a great character as well as an ending that made you want to stand up and cheer. I wish I had this on DVD as I wanted to watch it again straight after it ended.

In a few years this will be considered a five star classic.




Wha?  Why didn't you give it 5stars then?


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RE: Observe And Report - 26/4/2009 12:26:28 AM   
adambatman82

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lex Romero

quote:

ORIGINAL: lloyddobler

3 stars!! This movie was awesome. Such a great lead performance and such a great character as well as an ending that made you want to stand up and cheer. I wish I had this on DVD as I wanted to watch it again straight after it ended.

In a few years this will be considered a five star classic.




Wha?  Why didn't you give it 5stars then?



i think the "3 stars!!" was more of a bemoanment of empires score, rather than an indication of his own rating.

personally i hated observe and report. i went to see it purely out of the comparisons to the work of shrader, but found nothing of any worth in the picture. it was boring, it said nothing and the comedy was appallingly judged. the really annoying thing was that if the film had been played completely straight, with a competent dramatic lead actor and without stupid wannabe-quirky asides (the sketch show-comedy drunk mother, asian twins and "gangsta" side kick especially) i think it would have been a successful attempt at a shrader-esque character study. the line towards the end spoken by the cop hiding in the cupboard along the lines of " i thought this was going to be funny, but its just sad" actually came very close to moving me, which is an incredible feat considering just how much i disliked the proceeding 90 minutes, and an indication of the direction the film could have taken.

i can not get my head around the comparison to "fight club", im presuming that it was made simply because of the use of "where is my mind?", and for no other reason, as it just holds no weight as a comparison. this film wont be remembered, it wont have an effect on anything, it isnt clever in any way, its just a bad film. for the record, i didnt go expecting an apatow style comedy, i went because i heard it was a fairly removed piece of work, which was darker in tone and far more dramatic. had it been compared to apatow i wouldnt have gone near it, i hate that particular style of "comedy", and while i generally dislike seth rogen (although found him to be rather affable in monsters vs aliens), i gave everyone involved the benefit of the doubt upon hearing claims that it was the spiritual follow up to the likes of "the king of comedy" and even "taxi driver"! clearly i was wrong to do so.

< Message edited by adambatman82 -- 26/4/2009 12:28:15 AM >

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RE: Observe And Report - 26/4/2009 1:20:51 AM   
mackey

 

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Thankyou for that stream of conciousness 'adambatman82' but I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with your..........eh........stream of conciousness.  Observe and Report is by no means a perfect film but it is certainly dark, weird and disturbing.  Marketed as a 'Knocked Up', 'Superbad' type of comedy, I think this movie aims for something far more cerebral.  Is it a success?  I'm not quite sure.  I still don't know if I'm supposed to empathise with, sympathise with or despise the lead charachter but, hell, it's a rare film that presents it's protaganist in such ambiguos terms.  The film is by no means a complete success but it had me laughing and gasping in equal measure throughout. Admirable and strange, and there's not many films you can say that about.

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Observe and Report - 26/4/2009 2:48:22 AM   
jncorbett

 

Posts: 129
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There were some funny moments, for sure. But as a whole this film just didn't work. It was neither one thing (a sensitive look at bipolar disorder) or the other (an action comedy). Perhaps one day a film will be made that combines the two effectively, but this isn't it. Steer clear, it's really unworthy of anyone's time or money.

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Post #: 16
a new side of rogen - 27/4/2009 11:54:36 AM   
p1gion

 

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From: dundee
 i didnt expect this film to be so dark but i really enjoyed it, im a huge seth rogern fan and i was quite happy to see him do his usual thing but instead he has crafted a difficult character. this film paints un uncomfortable picture of a deeply flawed loser. but the laugs are tere and most of there are huge. i would say this film is vastly enjoyable aslong as you have no expectations going in, if you are looking for knocked up 2 you will feel a little cheated.

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Best avoided - you have been warned! - 28/4/2009 9:49:39 PM   
rougier

 

Posts: 15
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Barely a titter was raised in the cinema I watched this in, which is barely surprising as for the vast majority its in very poor taste. I'm no prude but this goes way beyond the excellent Superbad in the bad taste stakes and for me there was an unease in the cinema amongst all as things just got worse - best avoided.

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Post #: 18
RE: Observe and Report - 28/4/2009 10:04:22 PM   
captain jack harknes


Posts: 1259
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From: South Wales
quote:

ORIGINAL: jncorbett

There were some funny moments, for sure. But as a whole this film just didn't work. It was neither one thing (a sensitive look at bipolar disorder) or the other (an action comedy). Perhaps one day a film will be made that combines the two effectively, but this isn't it. Steer clear, it's really unworthy of anyone's time or money.


I agree entirely - this film just didn't know what it was aiming to be; it was marketed as a comedy and it so wasn't, yet wasn't much of anything else either!! Bit of a mess if I'm honest!

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RE: Observe and Report - 28/4/2009 10:19:27 PM   
adambatman82

 

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From: Sheffield
quote:

ORIGINAL: captain jack harknes

quote:

ORIGINAL: jncorbett

There were some funny moments, for sure. But as a whole this film just didn't work. It was neither one thing (a sensitive look at bipolar disorder) or the other (an action comedy). Perhaps one day a film will be made that combines the two effectively, but this isn't it. Steer clear, it's really unworthy of anyone's time or money.


I agree entirely - this film just didn't know what it was aiming to be; it was marketed as a comedy and it so wasn't, yet wasn't much of anything else either!! Bit of a mess if I'm honest!


mark kermode said in his review on five live that the director claimed it was "the only comedy based on taxi driver", to which kermode pointed out (in his usual rant like fashion) that scorsese and de niro already did a comedic version of taxi driver in the shape of the king of comedy.

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Post #: 20
RE: VERY FUNNY! - 2/8/2009 3:44:13 AM   
skippy82

 

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From: Milton Keynes
 POTENTIAL SPOILERS. Unlike some of the other posters i was completely disappointed with the ending. It was 5 minutes away from being a great film but the indecisiveness of the penultimate scene left me cold. I'll try & be discreet rather than blatantly giving away the ending but in regards to the fate of the flasher there were two clear directions to take, comedic or dramatic. Comedic would have been fitting & dramatic would have been shocking but both would have worked. The director chose to walk the line between the two & in my opinion the entire movie suffered as a result.
Post #: 21
RE: VERY FUNNY! - 2/8/2009 4:22:27 AM   
kingoftheducks


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Oddly, yet somewhat unsurprisingly for this film, I feel very differently about those final five minutes!

As a whole I felt Observe & Report was a well-intentioned, dark comedic mess.  There was a general shuffling of tone throughout, and though they clearly had the right influences (The King of Comedy far too lofty a goal to reach, but a noble pursuit nonetheless) they didn't exactly know how to execute it.  The film often drifted into territory unfittingly broad, and for a dark comedy to really work the dramatic edge does need to be as convincing as the humourous one, and neither really hit the right tone...  There were bits throughout where I found the film funny, and bits where I found it pleasingly shocking, and moments where it was also somewhat moving... but, never enough to really gel.

The film for me did seem to drag and kept veering further and further into rather bland, predictable territory and it was just at the end when I was getting really fed up with how the film-makers had kind of bottomed out and ended up with the kind of vanilla, predictable ending when all of sudden we hit the final five minutes and City Wolf's nice cover of Where Is My Mind kicked in; I thought this was a really funny, dark ending to the film and for a few minutes hit an off-beat tone that I wish it had sustained.

Also I'm not keen on Anna Faris, in her defense she's playing someone intentionally unlikable, but her performance was more irritating and grating for the wrong reasons.


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RE: VERY FUNNY! - 3/8/2009 9:18:51 PM   
skippy82

 

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From: Milton Keynes
 I agree completely. The whole chase scene set to 'Where is my mind' made me sit up and pay attention just when i'd pretty much given up hope of an entertaining ending. My point is (SPOILERS) why make Ronnie pull a gun and then not follow through with the obvious consequence? Sure it would have been a shocking end to a comedy, but a memorable one nonetheless. If the director, for whatever reason, didn't feel he could end the movie with that tone then he should have taken the gun out of the equation. I just felt that it hinted at something darker & then chickened out at the last minute. I went from sitting in front of the screen open mouthed to feeling a little cheated seconds later.

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The Worst Film of The Year (So Far) By A Long, Long Way - 7/8/2009 1:15:42 PM   
Groovy Mule

 

Posts: 1089
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I feel like I am taking crazy pills here ... I am pretty shocked at the general reaction to this film on this thread.  I thought that this was, by some distance, the worst film I have seen at the cinema this year (and I've had the misfortune of seeing Bride Wars and Franklyn).

I generally like Seth Rogan but I am getting concerned that he is going down the Will Ferrell route of the law of diminishing returns and overexposure and I have no idea what he was thinking with this film.  Billed as comedy but I (literally) don't think I laughed once at this film and I don't recall seeing anyone else laugh either.  The references of thematic similarities with the works of Paul Schrader and of Fight Club are ludicrous.  Those are films about what it is like to be a man, isolated from the society in which you live and struggling for your own social identity.  This is a "study" in mysogny, casual racism and homophobia and laughing at those you consider to be less fortunate than yourself.

The nadir of this film is the scene in which Rogan "date rapes" Anna Faris.  Some people would clearly call it "dark and edgy" but for me, it was simply grim and offensive and the film carries on this vein.

Come in Jody Hill, your time is most definitely up.  Appalling!

1/10

PS What has happened to Anna Faris' face?

< Message edited by Groovy Mule -- 7/8/2009 1:18:08 PM >

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Post #: 24
Observe and leave more like - 9/9/2009 2:57:40 PM   
S1lent B0b


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From: Long Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away
 This is THE worst film of the year. I walked into the cinema thinking this would be at least near watchable But it turned out to be the worst comedy since The Simpsons Movie.

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Post #: 25
Understandable Critique - 17/9/2009 1:06:23 PM   
D-ToX


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I have finally watched this movie, a film that I have been eager and at the same time dreading to watch.
From day one I knew that this film was poorly advertised by the Marketing muppets, a feat too often done by studios when they have either no idea how to market a film as they do not understand it or if the film is utter garbage.
Also because I like Seth Rogan, he has to make a bad film at some point and this film looked like it could be the one.
Because of these two points I skipped it at the cinema and held out for the DVD.

While viewing the film I realised where the bad publicity was coming from, it is not a film for all tastes but the (rip off) incompetent marketing will send the wrong people to watch it, hence all the negativity. There will also be a fair amount of people that will like this movie for the wrong reasons but what can you do there will always be disturbed people out there (a bit like the characters in the film really).
I enjoyed this film and it is instantly comparable to Cable Guy, I would even go as far to say that Seth Rogan probably had this in mind when he took the lead. Credit to him for trying something other than his slacker/stoner character that he usually performs.
I can remember Jim Carrey getting a lot of stick for Cable Guy, another film destroyed by negative press (mostly about his paycheck and before the film was even released) and yet more ridiculous marketing.
I don’t get the comparisons to Fight Club and the likes, I can’t think of a film that could be much more different.
I think it is as simple as this if you like Cable Guy then there is a good chance that you will like this, if you are not into Dark comedies with cringe worthy scenes and disturbing characters which are barely redeemable then avoid like the plague.

Favourite scene has to be ‘Crossroads’ didn’t see it coming but sure was glad when it did.

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Post #: 26
- 3/10/2009 8:46:11 AM   
iconzero


Posts: 104
Joined: 31/8/2006
I thought the Empire review gave the wrong impression about this movie. I'm a big Seth Rogen fan, and this didn't disappoint, yes it's dark around the edges but it's funny.

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Post #: 27
errrm??? - 5/1/2010 8:57:04 PM   
mdogg81

 

Posts: 10
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along with the foot fist way i really wanted to enjoy this but found the movie a huge letdown

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Post #: 28
Freakin Hilarious - 16/6/2010 7:24:30 AM   
monkeyhumour

 

Posts: 254
Joined: 12/2/2006
Approach as a drama and you'll laugh

Great performance from Seth Rogen, with some huge belly laughs

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Post #: 29
This is comedy. - 3/8/2010 3:31:48 PM   
EmpireLover

 

Posts: 16
Joined: 29/5/2010
From: london
 Everybody needs to chillax abou this film, i thought it was frickin helarious. i loved everything about it. the story is not about the flasher guy (which made me lmao) its about the struggle of seth rogen finding his dream. the film is kind of showing the unsung hereos of the security guards of shopping malls. you get me? i loved every seen with seth rogan and ray liotta. you never get bored of seth beating the crap out of everyone. i thought this was good you people want loads of sophisticated comedy but with this comedy you dont need to think or ask your self why you just sit and watch and enjoy. 4 stars

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