Beaks here...

Why let Capone and those Chicago ruffians have all the fun?

On Tuesday April 7th - in conjunction with the American Cinematheque - AICN will be hosting a sneak preview of Jody Hill's OBSERVE AND REPORT at the Aero Theatre in lovely Santa Monica, CA. Start time is 7:30 PM. General admission is $10 ($8 for students/seniors, $7 for Cinematheque members). And while I'd love to give away a whole bundle of tickets, we're expecting a very large turnout, so I can only spare two (2) seats for two (2) lucky AICN readers. If you want a crack at 'em, shoot me an email with the subject header "Love Will Turn You Around", and tell me the name of your favorite fictional seafood restaurant. Since that'll eliminate, like, four of you, know that I'll pick the winner randomly from there.

The movie itself should be reason enough to get you out on a Tuesday night, but, for added incentive, we'll have the great Jody Hill and the ineffable Seth Rogen in attendance for a post-film Q&A. Tickets will be available shortly at Fandango.

I shouldn't have to do a sell job on this movie. Hill broke through last year with THE FOOT FIST WAY (the most painfully awkward portrait of misplaced confidence run amok since Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY), and followed that up with the caustic (and, sadly, just-concluded) EASTBOUND AND DOWN for HBO. For whatever reason, Hill is completely dialed in to the deepest, darkest, most self-destructive recesses of the American male psyche - and he is mining this acute understanding not for nourishing drama, but for laughs. There's something utterly wrong about this, but, thus far, I'm laughing way too hard to care.

For those of you worried that Hill is going to pull his punches with his first studio film, fucking forget it: OBSERVE AND REPORT earns its R-rating in viciously creative ways. I can't wait to see how audiences respond to sweet-natured Seth Rogen playing a socially maladjusted mall cop who uses what little power he has to bully minorities, intimidate a makeup counter floozy with whom he's disconcertingly smitten, and muck up a police investigation. It's gloriously twisted.

I could go on, but I want to save the superlatives for my review. And, again, I don't think you need much convincing.

Tickets are available at Fandango right fucking now. Buy them, and I'll see you on April 7th for what will be, at the very least, one of 2009's funniest films.

Here's the program info from the American Cinematheque:

Tuesday, April 7 – 7:30 PM

Sneak Preview! OBSERVE AND REPORT, 2009, Warner Bros., 106 min. Dir. Jody Hill.
At the Forest Ridge Mall, head of security Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) patrols his jurisdiction with an iron fist. The master of his domain, he combats skateboarders, shoplifters and the occasional unruly customer while dreaming of the day when he can swap his flashlight for a badge and a gun. Ronnie's delusions of grandeur are put to the test when the mall is struck by a flasher. Driven by his personal duty to protect and serve the mall and its patrons, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his underappreciated law enforcement talents on a grand scale, hoping his solution of this crime will earn him a coveted spot at the police academy and the heart of his elusive dream girl Brandi (Anna Faris), the hot make-up counter clerk who won't give him the time of day. But his single-minded pursuit of glory launches a turf war with the equally competitive Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) of the Conway Police, and Ronnie is confronted with the challenge of not only catching the flasher, but getting him before the real cops. Discussion following with director Jody Hill and actor Seth Rogen.