Starring: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Dan Bakkedahl, Jesse Plemons

Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is many things: Head of Security at an Albuquerque-area Mall; an Aspiring Police Officer; a Dutiful Son to a burned-out Alcoholic Mother; a man totally in love with a co-worker (Anna Faris) who barely remembers he exists. But above all, he is angry. Alone. And he is ready to be noticed. Fortune smiles on Ronnie and frowns at the rest of the mall when a serial flasher begins stalking the parking lots, drawing the attentions of the local news and the Hot-headed Police Higher-up Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), while igniting in Ronnie the ambition long-buried under his regime of Bi-Polar suppressing meds and schlubby appearance: he will be the hero this mall needs. He will catch this pervert. He will blow the brains out of all darkness in the world and save the day. Or he will die trying.

Zeroing in on one of the many discontented American lives that often quietly pass by in the margins of most folks’ vision, Observe and Report basically grafts the soul of Taxi Driver onto the bones of one of the Judd Apatow-ian bawdy comedies that still ruled the theatrical landscape back in ‘09, producing an alarmingly prescient portrait of an Incel on the rise back when these types were referred to as “Guys who Buy Swords at the Mall.” Hilarious and shockingly bleak while maintaining an insane kind of high-wire empathy for all the suburban souls caught in his camera, writer/director Jody Hill deploys the slo-mo dad-rock poetry that made shows like Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals 21st century comedy touchstones to totally place the audience in Ronnie’s deeply deluded POV without ever allowing us to comfortably view him as an anti-hero (unlike certain other Taxi Driver riffs focusing on supervillian clowns). Rogen gleefully rips the stuffing out of his freshly cultivated Teddy Bear screen persona to hide a ticking time bomb within while Farris, Liotta and an absolutely on-fire Michael Peña put in some of the best work of their careers to keep this brazen balancing act of pothead chuckles, sudden violence and deep seated misery afloat.

Greeted by well-earned controversy and a war for public awareness following in the wake of the unfortunate success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop (which was rushed through production to beat this very film to theaters), Observe and Report was ignored by the public and split critics right down the center: “If you thought Abu Ghraib was a laugh riot, then you’ll love Observe and Report” -Manhola Dargis; “A crazy mosaic of Americana with tiles scattered and missing. A-” -Liza Schwarzbaum. As the Ronnie Banhardts of the world became major cultural forces over the past 15 years and Jody Hill and co. moved on to HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, the film’s 51% on Rotten Tomatoes has held fast making this 15th anniversary a ripe moment to Re-consider! the whiplash genius of this undervalued masterpiece of American malaise, assuming we all survive the untethered lunacy of the film’s final reel.