Observe and Report “is not a movie about a guy who becomes a hero [but] a guy who’s decided in his own mind that he is one, all evidence to the contrary. Referring to this movie and Paul Blart: Mall Cop in the same breath because they’re both about mall cops is like comparing Straw Dogs to Babe because they’re both set on a farm.” — from Moises Chiullan‘s just-posted review of Jody Hill‘s upcoming Warner Bros. release, which is opening 4.10.
Anyone out there who believes that the Warner Bros. copy line on the Observe and Report poster is meant to be understood in this light — i.e., that Rogen’s character is delusional — doesn’t know much about studio marketing. The poster obviously isn’t taking the idea of Rogen’s mall cop being a hero seriously — the shades make it clear he’s a self-absorbed doofus — but the poster isn’t even flirting with the idea that the character may be seriously deranged in a Travis Bickle sense of the term. There isn’t a wisp of a hint of this in the poster art.