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Re: Seth Rogen, Observe and Report: 4O MILLION THIS WEEKEND
Do you...do you actually KNOW anyone who is a security guard at a mall? Bi-polar might not only be an asset for the job, it might be a qualification.
SPOILERS AHEAD
All joking aside, there are PLENTY of bi-polar people who hold down "normal" jobs every day that 1) we don't even know are bi-polar because they're able to hide it well and 2) are on medication that's working...much like Ronnie's was at the beginning of the film. So I'm sort of surprised you decided to gloss over that.
As far as the character arc that someone mentioned, I think Ronnie's character had a considerable arc - it just played out in his own mind, not in real life. You're right - by the end of the movie, Ronnie's gone pretty much nowhere as far as personal growth. But in his own mind he HAS become a hero - he got his perp, he got a girl, and he's back as the head of mall security, where he's "respected" as a "leader".
Thematically, there's really no difference with this storyline than that of a classic like THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. In that film, Francis tells the story of how Dr. Caligari and his giant sleepwalker kidnap his girlfriend and frame him for murder. In his head, the situation becomes resolved...but we see, in fact, that he's a patient in a mental institution at the end of the movie. The whole thing's been made up. There, it'd easy to say, "Oh, well there's no character arc - it was all a dream!" But no one says that because what ACTUALLY happened is of secondary importance to how Francis rationalizes his world.
You can say the same exact thing about Ronnie in this movie. You could also say that about his mother, who has the Alcoholic's Breakthrough because of what's happened to her son: she's switching from liquor to beer. For her, that's the completion of an arc in THIS story. And why I think that worked is because these people really are out there. I know a few, and so do you. And it's because they're nimwits and because they're mall cops and because they have psychological issues that we sweep them under the rug and ignore them. And I think what they're trying to say here is...maybe it's in our best interest not to.
Is this film flawed? Heavily. I didn't love it. But I really appreciated some of the things that it did.
Originally posted by Cycstorm
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SPOILERS AHEAD
All joking aside, there are PLENTY of bi-polar people who hold down "normal" jobs every day that 1) we don't even know are bi-polar because they're able to hide it well and 2) are on medication that's working...much like Ronnie's was at the beginning of the film. So I'm sort of surprised you decided to gloss over that.
As far as the character arc that someone mentioned, I think Ronnie's character had a considerable arc - it just played out in his own mind, not in real life. You're right - by the end of the movie, Ronnie's gone pretty much nowhere as far as personal growth. But in his own mind he HAS become a hero - he got his perp, he got a girl, and he's back as the head of mall security, where he's "respected" as a "leader".
Thematically, there's really no difference with this storyline than that of a classic like THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. In that film, Francis tells the story of how Dr. Caligari and his giant sleepwalker kidnap his girlfriend and frame him for murder. In his head, the situation becomes resolved...but we see, in fact, that he's a patient in a mental institution at the end of the movie. The whole thing's been made up. There, it'd easy to say, "Oh, well there's no character arc - it was all a dream!" But no one says that because what ACTUALLY happened is of secondary importance to how Francis rationalizes his world.
You can say the same exact thing about Ronnie in this movie. You could also say that about his mother, who has the Alcoholic's Breakthrough because of what's happened to her son: she's switching from liquor to beer. For her, that's the completion of an arc in THIS story. And why I think that worked is because these people really are out there. I know a few, and so do you. And it's because they're nimwits and because they're mall cops and because they have psychological issues that we sweep them under the rug and ignore them. And I think what they're trying to say here is...maybe it's in our best interest not to.
Is this film flawed? Heavily. I didn't love it. But I really appreciated some of the things that it did.
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