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Observe and Report
Mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt is called into action to stop a flasher from turning shopper's paradise into his personal peep show. But when Barnhardt can't bring the culprit to justice, a surly police detective is recruited to close the case.
2009 · Directed by Jody Hill · 86 min · Comedy · Crime · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 9 frames
Tagline
Right now, the world needs a hero.
Plot
An anonymous flasher exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt, makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. But while he is ostensibly well-intentioned and valiant in his own mind, in reality, Ronnie is emotionally unstable and has vigilante tendencies. Ronnie apparently experiences bipolar disorder and delusions of grandeur and displays violent ideation, among other problems.
The criminal activity at the mall continues as the flasher exposes himself to makeup counter worker Brandi and a masked robber causes property damage at a shoe store. In both instances, police Detective Harrison arrives to investigate. He and Ronnie dislike each other, as Ronnie believes Harrison is taking over his proper role as investigator and the detective believes he is disrupting the investigation.
Ronnie decides to take steps to become a police officer. As part of his preparations, he decides to do a ride-along with Harrison. The detective tricks him into walking into the most dangerous part of town and drives off. Ronnie then confronts and assaults several drug dealers, victoriously returning to the police station with a dealer's son and thanking Harrison for the opportunity to prove himself.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Jody Hill
- Cinematography: Tim Orr
- Edited by: Zene Baker
- Music: Joseph Stephens
- Production design: Chris L. Spellman
- Produced by: Donald De Line
Cast
- Seth Rogen as Ronnie Barnhardt
- Ray Liotta as Detective Harrison
- Anna Faris as Brandi
- Michael Peña as Dennis
- Dan Bakkedahl as Mark
- Jesse Plemons as Charles
- John Yuan as John Yuen
- Matt Yuan as Matt Yuen
- Celia Weston as Mom
- Collette Wolfe as Nell
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Legendary Pictures, De Line Pictures
- Budget: $18,000,000
- Box office: $24,007,324
- Themes: robbery, dark comedy, unrequited love, security guard, mall
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