Seth Rogen’s “Observe & Report” = Too Funny For Actual Audiences?

If you’ve seen Jody Hill’s weirdly amusing film The Foot Fist Way, which stars Danny McBride of The Pineapple Express as a small-town Tae Kwon Do teacher who is full of himself and the power he wields over his students, you know his comedic sensibilities are not for the people who think Beverly Hills Chihuahua is laugh-out-loud knee-slappery. His comedy is much more subtle and quirky and very rarely has an obvious punchline (except maybe for when McBride’s Fred Simmons goes after his jerk of a hero, Chuck The Truck). His newest effort is Observe and Report, and he’s got a bigger-name cast to work with this time - including Seth Rogen, Anna Faris and Ray Liotta. A test screening last weekend had people comparing it to Bad Santa, Anchorman and even Taxi Driver in terms of comedy and greatness. Yet those same people are sure the film is in trouble, because half the audience didn’t get it, and studios don’t like confused test audiences.

It also probably doesn’t help that the lovable and cuddly Rogen is playing far against type as a horribly racist mall cop that makes people uncomfortable, and that there’s actually some significantly violent content as well, featuring a parody of the reason people should see Oldboy (which would explain the Taxi Driver comparisons). It’s not going to be at all what people expect out of a Rogen comedy. Let’s all just hope that it doesn’t get hacked all to hell to try to cram it into those expectations.