A skinny Seth Rogen brings the laughs

For those of you getting a little nervous that the 30-pounds-lighter Seth Rogen will not be nearly as funny as the chubby, teddybear-like Rogen we all know and love, fret not. Friday’s release of ‘Observe and Report’ proves that he has not shed those laugh-inducing pounds. Phew.

However, portly appearance aside, Rogen isn’t his old self in this mall-cop comedy.’ He is more serious, more dark and more inept than we’ve ever seen him. Turns out ‘-‘- we kind of like him this way. Though he is noticeably without the comedic solidarity of his Judd Apatow-led band of brothers, Rogen firmly holds his own in this twisted romp. He reaches beyond the inner pothead to create a more dynamic and sadder lowlife than he’s ever mustered up before. Anna Faris, Rogen’s love interest, is so entirely hateable that she’s a pleasure to watch. Ray Liotta easily plays the bad-ass (not a huge stretch – the guy was in ‘Goodfellas’ afterall) and the rest of the mall employees make for an oddly hilarious cast of characters that nicely fill out the background of the film.

The movie follows Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen) as he spends his days meandering between the food court and the department store as proud head of security at the Forest Ridge Mall. When a slew of crimes hits his linoleum walkways, Ronnie sees an opportunity to prove himself master of his domain and potentially impress make-up counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris). But what begins as a call for mall justice slowly turns into a personal vendetta against Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), a local cop infringing on Ronnie’s mall case. Hilarity ensues as Ronnie inevitably hits his head on that low ceiling of opportunity that every mall cop no doubt knows too well.

With ‘Observe and Report,’ writer/director Jody Hill manages to break away from the comedic mould that Judd Apatow has made a modern Hollywood standard. His humor is different, surprisingly more vulgar, and doesn’t answer to anyone’s expectations of film or comedy. Ronnie is neither our hero nor our antihero, and Hill doesn’t attempt to make a moral conviction out of the piece at all. However, the film is not for touching moments; Ronnie is ‘-‘- somehow ‘-‘- still the dude we root for, and we walk away in love with Rogen all over again.

‘Observe and Report’ is certainly not for the faint of heart or the virgin-eared. I’ve seen my share of cuss-filled movies, and still I’m fairly confident I’ve never heard the f-word so many times in any two-hour span. Prepare yourself for a comedy that is somehow both stupid and sweet. Parts of it will make you squirm with nausea, others will make you squeal with delight. If anything, maybe it’ll make your heart go out to the badge-emblazoned men and women dutifully patrolling our Foot Lockers and Sunglass Huts with heightened senses of authority and tragic delusions of grandeur ‘-‘- or maybe not.