Observe and Report, actor Seth Rogen’s latest “comedy” adventure, has been out for a week now, and reviews are – quite frankly – not all that hot as far as the mental health angle is concerned.
Rogen portrays Ronnie Barnhardt, a mall security guard with bipolar disorder on a mission to restore safety and decency to the Forest Ridge Mall with a mouth worthy of some industrial strength disinfectant.
Several reputable names support Rogen in Observe and Report. Ronnie’s mother (Celia Weston) is an alcoholic who blames him for Ronnie’s father leaving, the object of his affection (Anna Faris) is a makeup counter girl with some questionable behavior issues of her own, and his archenemy is apparently a toss up between the mall’s latest nuisance – a flasher – and the real detective who steps in to clean up the problem (Ray Liotta).
However, despite an impressive cast, some reviewers are, well, quite unimpressed themselves.
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Adam M. Aguiar
9:06 pm on
April 18th, 2009Hey! Maybe “mental illness” is finally begining to lose some of its stigma! It isn’t funny but the trend to dropping the word “manic” for “bipolar” was a good start. Now even Broadway is on the bandwagon. “next to Normal” etc. was a start.
It is, in any form, very prevalent but is not the explanation for everything terrible we see being done every day. It is in one or another form very common and not really that funny. I imagine that it is a personal Hell for the victum and any person close to them.
Hey! Maybe “mental illness” is finally begining to lose some of its stigma! It isn’t funny but the trend to dropping the word “manic” for “bipolar” was a good start. Now even Broadway is on the bandwagon. “next to Normal” etc. was a start.
It is, in any form, very prevalent but is not the explanation for everything terrible we see being done every day. It is in one or another form very common and not really that funny. I imagine that it is a personal Hell for the victum and any person close to them.
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
Man…I had no idea that mental illness plays such a prominent role in this movie. That’s disappointing.
My take on the use of mental illness for humor is this: until the public’s understanding of mental illness reflects the growing science behind it, effective treatment is widely available and ineffective treatment is not, and the bulk of coverage on the topic is empathic rather than critical, jokes like that won’t be funny. The balance, as it is, favors inaccurate portrayals of mental illness, insensitive perspectives on what that experience is like, and the perpetuation of idiotic approaches to treatment, which makes any jokes about mental illness, witty though they might be, destined to fall flat.
Mental illness will never be funny in and of itself, but there might come a time when the fundamentals of the situation are strong enough that we can find humor in a difficult situation. Right now, that just isn’t the case. If we could, I suspect Seth Rogen would be the guy to pull it off, but it just isn’t going to work right now.
http://www.psychotherapybrownbag.com
How many people who have actually suffered from mental illness are willing to make the blanket absolutist statement that “mental illness isn’t funny”?
I’m not.
There’s humor in everything. Including tragedy. That the moviemakers failed to accomplish it is a separate contention entirely.
Hannah
3:39 pm on
April 22nd, 2009To be honest, I’d be far more concerned about the ‘date rape scene’, as it is called.
In all seriousness, I can deal with people making jokes about depression or my ED and may do so myself, whether to defuse a situation or simply because, yes, there is humour in that…
But really, laughing about a dude sleeping with an (at least priorly) unconsenting woman who is drunk, passed out and covered in her own puke is about as funny, as… um, a dude sleeping with an unconsenting woman? – Which, in my ideolect, is but a long-winded description of rape.
Or is the funny that uh, he’s a guy and he’s bipolar and, er, she’s got issues, so, well, that’s what we ought to expect? Because then, really, I’d recommend the viewers turn to the news for laughs and save themselves the money.
Robert Martin-Hill II
3:56 pm on
April 22nd, 2009?Can’t we grow up?
Who are we to seek control of all other people everytime we do not like something.
Never mind that laughter is a protection against tragedy.
We do not all have to like everything, we are not children. There are other people who like things we do not, so what? Do you want them to stop you from enjoying things you like?
I find religion and organised sports to be an embarrassing use of human abilities, dogs are very good at chasing balls, why should we? And who would take a 10 year old seriously who still believes in Santa? How is an adult believing in god any less ridiculous?
Before you ask someone to not do something think of what you do and what they could ask of you. Just because we are offended by something does not mean we should be able to control other people. We do not have to control others just ourselves. Don’t see the movie. Don’t watch sports. Stay out of church. What ever we don’t like we have the responsibility to avoid.
Our first move should not be fascistic control of others, or plaintive whining about everything that comes to our attention that we personally don’t approve of.
Hannah
12:47 am on
April 23rd, 2009@Robert Martin-Hill II:
I for one would be the last to suggest this movie be censored (same as I don’t call for the abolishment of the church or the NRA), but certainly you, as someone who seems to value freedom of both speech and artistic expression as highly as you, will allow women to express their serious concern over a portrayal of a scene that comes across as ‘a little more harmless’ than it actually is?
While some women will disagree with me and find it all to be in good humour, I think many of us (and, from what I read, thankfully many men as well) are both disturbed and concerned.
True, it’s not going to inspire an immediate wave of date rape (hopefully), but still: The movie seems to condone this behaviour, depicting taking advantage of a helpless person (whatever the gender or condition) as a fair target. And, please excuse my quaint views, but in my moral universe it isn’t – and no, this opinion is not based on Christian values, it stems from a conviction that unless we are all given the equal opportunities, rights and levels of safety, a society in which free speech and artistic expression are for each and every one of us will not be possible.
If you afford religion or football the courtesy of acknowledging their right to existence, if you ask that you not be subject to the rules or values of these organisations, why complain about other peoples views? I really would like everyone to think whether they want increase this movie’s revenue – but if you for instance come to the conclusion that, yes, you do… then go and enjoy the movie, by all means.
So: Call for censorship? Certainly not. Chipping in my 2 cents? Oh yes.
S.G.
12:52 pm on
May 5th, 2009I know nothing about the movie so I can’t say if the humor is insensitive or inappropriate.
I do think humor is valuable in dealing with the realities of having a mental illness. I’ve had some incredibly devastating things happen due to my mother having bipolar (she ultimately committed suicide) & then I’ve had my share of difficulties with having the disorder myself.
I do use humor quite a bit as does my husband & children. He sometimes calls me “Lucy” as in Lucy Ricardo, because I can do incredibly “screwy” things & he says I have a very creative mind as I come to conclusions in a very unique way (my thinking skills have been affected by medication as has my memory).
At work one day I could not for the life of me remember a woman’s last name & I needed to write it on an invoice. I have known her for 20 years so I did not want to admit that I could not recall her last name so I thought I would be really sly & told her I couldn’t remember how to SPELL her last name. She looked at me funny & said S-M-I-T-H. All I can do is laugh at that ploy of mine to try to hide my deficiency & instead looked even more stupid.
I’ve tried every sport in the book & failed miserably. I have no eye-hand coordination & have actually had a tennis teacher tell me to stop wasting my money on lessons. So I finally decided my “sport” is “competitive knitting.” I just haven’t found a team to join.
When I’m anxious (which seems to be most of the time), I make really stupid remarks so much that I wish we could move so I could escape seeing the people who have heard me spout off ridiculous remarks. I’m embarrassed about people remembering what I’ve said.
I asked my husband if he could get transferred to Moscow or somewhere where they don’t speak English so no one would understand when I say what I call my “blurt-outs.”
One of the many therapists I’ve had told me that I should get off my meds for bipolar 1 (!) as they “blunted my emotions.” I was amazed as she had not seen me before I was on meds. I was pretty much huddled in a corner, crying all the time. I discontinued seeing her, but now when I’m getting too wound up I’ll tell my husband to “Get me a pill & blunt me!” I am authorized to take Klonopin during the day, but it makes me sleepy so I very rarely do–but just sometimes I can diffuse my anxiety by thinking of that therapist.
Being mentally ill is not funny, but it is the reality so humor helps me deal with it.
AO
11:35 pm on
January 22nd, 2010I’m a bit late here, but I finally watched this movie–I was expecting a comedy, but I don’t remember laughing very much. @Robert Martin-Hill II, I don’t think telling people to “grow up” makes any sense in this context–we’re trying to debate something worth discussing here: the portrayal of mental illness in popular culture. We aren’t just talking about nudity or profanity. Would I censor it, no? But I have every right to criticize the intent behind a movie like Observe and Report.
First, one of the issues I took with the movie is that it doesn’t present itself as one dealing with mental illness, rather it appears to be about a pathetic mall cop. His bipolar is “revealed” and then we really get no other information, which means that we are supposed to attribute his reckless, violent, strange behavior as “bipolar.” I don’t think this portrayal turns a tragedy into something bearable at all. Is his bp supposed to explain everything?It continues myths that people who have this disorder are deranged psychopaths by their own doing. There is huge gap in public knowledge about what bipolar is and what it is not and Rogan’s character isn’t helping. Perhaps there could be some humor regarding bipolar…but it would still need to have other components that increase awareness (layers).
I watched it with my boyfriend, who has bp disorder, and neither of us laughed when Ronnie mentioned that he had a “little bipolar.” (I doubt someone in a manic state would even admit to it). We ended the movie 20 min short because there was simply no purpose in watching anymore. I agree with Mike Anestis who wrote above that the portrayal of mental illness has been so insensitive that jokes about it are pointless.
Like others here, the date rape scene does trouble me, because it perpetuates myths that women “deserve it”. We need to increase awareness about it, certainly, but there is nothing funny about a mentally ill person raping someone who has had far too much to drink.
I suppose in the end, the movie is valuable because we are here having this conversation. And it seems from the reviews I’ve seen that few people have found it to be funny. I still just wish I hadn’t wasted my time seeing it.
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