Observe and Report (2009) - Hill's hilarious dark comedy leaves good taste in the gutter

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Dark Comedy of the Year

 

Two questionable mall cops pose like idiots on this poster for Jody Hill's Observe and Report

Ronnie is a mall cop, and it is a job that he carries out with what is perhaps a somewhat exaggerated sense of responsibility. His mother drinks; his flame Brandi from cosmetics is uninterested in him; but then Ronnie gains a much-wanted enemy - in the guise of a chubby flasher.

Observe and Report is written and directed by Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way (2006)).

Hill and co-star and protagonist Seth Rogen's (Steve Jobs (2015)) dark, transgressive male-centric, crude humor lies heavily over Observe and Report, as it relies on laughing at (and not with) its team of dumb loser characters.

But the film is also a ton of laughs, especially in the most absurd scenes, SPOILER as when Ronnie shoots the flasher.

 

Related post:

 

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a 22-second clip from the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 26.9 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.49 times its cost)

[Observe and Report premiered 16 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas) and runs 86 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 2008 in New Mexico. It opened #4, behind fellow new release Hannah Montana: The Movie and holdover hits Fast & Furious and Monsters vs. Aliens, to an 11 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 24 mil. $ (89.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1 mil. $ (3.7 %) and Australia with 912k $ (3.4 %). Hill returned with a short and 2 TV credits prior to his theatrical return, The Legacy of a Whitehall Deer Hunter (2018, VoD). Rogen returned in Family Guy (2009, TV-series) and theatrically in Funny People (2009); Michael Peña (The Mule (2018)) in My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done (2009). Observe and Report is rotten at 51 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Observe and Report?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) - Lord and Miller debut with inspired, imaginative children's book adaptation

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year

A hunger-inducing poster for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Flint is an inventor in a little, hopeless island town in the Pacific, which is known only for its sardines. He builds a machine, which makes it rain food, but because it comes to follow the mayor's motto of 'bigger is better', it ends up causing some serious problems.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a loose adaptation of a children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett (Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People (1988)). At its core lies the very funny and imagination-appealing idea of it raining foods, and the film cleverly spins several poignant satirical observations over our greed, over-consumption and stupidity as a species around this premise, without ever becoming preachy or depressing. It is driven along at a high pace that may leave some adults breathless and involves many impressive, outrageous effects. Besides the truly eye-popping animation and really solid material, Cloudy also benefits greatly from a stellar voice cast headed by Bill Hader (Inside Out (2015)) and Anna Farris (Observe and Report (2009)).
It is the feature debut of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who had previously been supervising directors on the animation TV-series Clone High (2002-03) before they got this gig. They have since made it big with their hits, 21 and 22 Jump Street (2012; 2014) and The Lego Movie (2014). They are continuing with both franchises as producers and are launching several other projects at the moment, clearly bent on becoming big-shots in the movie business.

Related posts:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: The Lego Movie (2014) - GLue and near-robotic square-mindedness gets a kick in the head in the year's surprise family favorite

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

A Russian poster for the film

The cover of the children's book that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs adapts shows how little the two products have in common style-wise

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 100 mil. $
Box office: 243 mil. $
= Minor flop
[Part of Sony Pictures Animation's first slate of films, Cloudy's relatively good, although not spectacular hit status was important. A large part of the film's profits undoubtedly stem from secondary products (DVD's and merchandise). It spun a sequel, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), which did even better (274.3 mil. $) on a significantly lower budget (78 mil. $), which is in the range of the studio's animation budgets (9 titles 2006-13, 55-110 mil. $ each).]

What do you think of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?
If you have seen the sequel, how is it?