Something funny: I Love You, Man; Observe and Report

Something funny is happening in Hollywood. Judd Apatow-style comedies are all the rage. Fresh off the success of summer fare like Superbad, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, this spring sees the opening of two such films, although neither happen to be Apatow-helmed. Opening this weekend was I Love You, Man from Paramount, starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Seth Rogen’s newest flick, Observe and Report, opens April 10.

Although both comedies find similarities in their Apatow predecessors, only one truly embraces the funny-yet-sweet lightheartedness of earlier movies. I Love You, Man is about dorky but lovable Peter Klaven (Rudd) who is about to get married. As demonstrated by his consideration to make a batch of root beer floats with chocolate straws for his fiancé (Rashida Jones) and her friends, Peter has always been a girlfriend guy and doesn’t have any male friends. After overhearing the women worry about the freakishness of this particular behavior, he starts going on “man dates” to find a best man.

This is where the film hits its stride, by exploring male friendship—or the favorite new term, “bromance.” While not overly clever, easy laughs stem from Peter’s extreme awkwardness during these so-called dates and his desperation for new friend Sydney (Segel) to like him. Whereas a lot of jokes are lined up to parallel Peter’s man dates to heterosexual female-male dating, or to question the intimacy two men can safely share – no joke seems to come at the expense of homosexuality. Instead, the movie’s relationships only seem to highlight the realism of any relationship having “intimate” qualities, whether they be male-female or male-male. A true bromance, if you will.

Observe and Report, on the other hand, relies less on legitimate social constructions for humor and goes straight for the gay, fat and drug humor. Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen) is a delusional mall cop who believes his life’s struggle for recognition comes in the form of a flasher who has been targeting women in the mall parking lot. The opening sequence is, while not graphic or necessarily vulgar, pulls enough laughs for the audience to think this film could balance the sweetness and gratuity—the likes of Superbad. But then enters Rogen, who plays Ronnie not as a down-on-his-dreams security guard desperately in love with the cosmetics counter bitch, Brandi (Anna Faris) but as a stalker with a streak of crazy. And here is where Observe and Report fails—with no real redeeming quality in Ronnie.

Instead of pulling in jokes based on his rivalry with a real detective (Ray Liotta) or his desperation to be worth something, the movie falls into a stream of over-the-top, cringeworthy violence, heavy drug use and approximately three minutes of male-frontal nudity. Nothing terribly wrong with that (discounting that male nudity, maybe) if you find these things funny. But Observe and Report relies purely on shock value to get the laughs, not with any wit or charm.

Observe and Report will divide the comedy camp, I’m sure, whereas I Love You, Man is truthful enough to get laughs from everyone. Whereas Observe and Report won’t do much to extend Rogen’s career, I'm pleased to announce we are entering the time of Paul Rudd.