TheRetroCritic

So few movies I've seen on the big screen that left me with a feeling of "what the hell did I just watch?". There was The Time Machine , which just kinda ended, Broken Flowers , which I just didn't get, a couple of others and Zack And Miri Make A Porno . I mean, it's not like the subject matter was a big surprise, after all, the title is pretty darn clear! That said the movie I got was very different from what I had imagined. For one thing: they don't actually make a porno. We're teased early on with the possibility of Jason Mewes and co. taking on "Star Whores" but that just crashes and burns and the film becomes about making a porno in a coffee shop but then it turns out the film's not about that all but in fact is all about the Seth Rogen/Elizabeth Banks romance. This would work had the film been substantial enough in various domains (laughs, heart, smarts) but this is a bare movie which... I guess fits the porno theme in a way.

Occasionally a comedy comes along that's just so weird or mean-spirited that studios just don't know how to market it. I'm thinking The Cable Guy , Super or even Neighbors , back in the day. Observe And Report , be warned, isn't the Paul Blart: Mall Cop -style knockabout cartoon comedy it was sold as. In fact, this is the much darker tale of what happens when a deluded, if well-meaning, sociopath goes off his meds. Seth Rogen, in possibly his best role to date, plays Ronnie, head of mall security, who takes his job a little too seriously. When a flasher repeatedly invades the mall, the police are called in and Ray Liotta's cop begins a routine investigation which Ronnie promptly interferes with, thinking he's on some sort of one-man crusade to protect Anna Faris' odious perfume salesgirl. He takes the case into his own hands, which inspires him to try and join the police force and ask Faris out. Both plans, of course, backfire. It's good to see

The idea of a Seth MacFarlane film in which the guy plays a CGI bear alongside Mark Wahlberg sounded like the best film ever. Like everything I wanted The Beaver to be and more! Couldn't wait to see that but somewhere along the line I just assumed the project would end up getting shot down due to it being maybe a bit too out-there for studios to bet their money on. Then a trailer popped up and I was both over the moon and a tad suspicious. There seemed to be lols in there but it all felt much "safer" as a comedy than the Ted I'd subconsciously developed in that twisted-ass mind of mine. The whole foul-mouthed, alcoholic, stoner animated character thing seemed way too obvious of a gag and the novelty of  Ted and his wackily non-typically teddy bear ways wore off by the end of the trailers. But Mark Wahlberg usually being much better in comedies than in serious, dramatic roles (see I Heart Huckabees and The Happening lol) and MacFarlane always a good bet in te