OK, so let’s get this out of the way. “Observe and Report,” though featuring 2009′s second narrative about a mall cop, is not even remotely close to January’s “Paul Blart” in anyway. In fact the two films should only exist side by side to show how entirely un-mainstream “Observe and Report” is.

What director Jody Hill and star Seth Rogen have crafted in the 90 minutes that follow once you sit down to watch “Observe and Report” can be described by many highly colorful adjectives. The film is shocking, graphic, lewd and entirely inappropriate. And I loved every minute of it.

Image via Warner Brothers

Seth Rogen plays Ronnie Barnhardt, a bipolar mall security guard who has been a bit down on his luck. His crush, Brandi, played by the oh so lovely Anna Farris, thinks he is a piece of garbage and his mother is a raging, albeit loving, alcoholic. All this changes once a dilemma arising from a serial streaker enables Ronnie to show everyone in his life just how truly fucking incredible he is as he fights and claws his way to finding the sicko whose penis has been engrained in shopper’s minds. Sounds simple right?

“Observe and Report” is the sophomore follow up from director Jody Hill, who laid a giant comedic egg on the industry with his debut film “The Foot Fist Way” which has since gained quite a dedicated cult following as well as launched the career of “Tropic Thunder” and “Pineapple Express” funnyman Danny McBride.

That film, which was made for pennies and paperclips, showcased Hill’s nack for truly off the wall humor and dialogue. “Observe and Report” takes everything that was good about “The Foot Fist Way” and applies a nice, healthy studio budget to create a theatrical comedy that will leave nearly every casual movie-goer scratching their head upon the cue of credits. Responses will be as polarized as the goddamn ice caps; people will either love it with every once of their soul or absolutely, completely, unequivocally loathe it…

Image via Warner Brothers

I was in the first category. “Observe and Report” is, above all, highly unusual. It delves into corners of the mental psyche that most films wouldn’t dare and the results are occasionally not pretty. But they are always, always completely hysterical. You will laugh till you cry and then spend the next minute feeling guilty as to why. It’s a wonderful escape from the usual yuck yuck Jack Black shenanigans that scoop holes out from your brain at an alarming rate.

I’m going to level with you here; you probably won’t like this movie. Or, as I said, you may really love it. You wont walk out of the theater shrugging your shoulders, that is for damn sure. All I can say is that when a mainstream film institutes such a polarizing emotional reaction, you know it’s something special. And that this is.   Hats off to Jody Hill and Seth Rogen for crafting what has become my favorite comedy of 2009. Like it or hate it, “Observe and Report” is like nothing you have ever seen before and in the world of studio comedy, this is in its own right the highest praise that can be awarded.