You know, Jody Hill is something entirely different in comedy. The comedy world right now has the really bad parody shit of the various Genre Spoof turds, the juvenile sex comedies, there's that world of safe family comedies, the intellectually delightful word play comedies, the Apatow influenced world of bitter sweet reality based comedies.... and now there is Jody Hill.

Jody Hill is the David Cronenberg of Comedy. He's the guy who directs films that unnerves the audience ever so slightly, while thrilling them with laughter. He's got a twisted whacked outness that people just can't pin down. He's like a weird kind of alien that doesn't seem to be straining for a laugh... it just comes and sometimes it comes really really hard. And then your brain is pregnant with the laugh for quite some time.

OBSERVE & REPORT in the trailers and TV spots, safe for all audiences, mind you - seems to be another MALL COP movie, but this isn't a comedy about a mall cop - sure - that's what Seth Rogen's character does, but that isn't who he is. He's a mama's boy with issues. He's got some rather severe mental problems, doesn't have a father figure because his Dad ran off some time before. His mother is someone that never isn't on her way to simple oblivion via a bottle of booze - and now he feels he has to take care of her. He's a kissing cousin of Norman Bates. Had mom had a hotel and died 3 years before... Seth would be dressing in her clothes and killing folks that came for a night's rest into an eternity.

The job this rather disturbed individual has is... as the head of security at a rather quiet mall. Seth's Ronnie Barnhardt also collects guns - and he seems to have filled his Mall Cop squad with other... similarly minded folks that are hoping to change the rules at the mall to carry guns, instead of tasers. The other men on his team have similarly bought into Ronnie's delusion. They all feel their job is to back-up Ronnie's plan. When you have a group of delusional underpaid gun toting nutjobs - and you give them a territory to protect... things can go wrong.

Wrong is personified in Anna Faris' Brandi. She's a perfume counter doll. She's as smart as a box of Kleenex and every bit as nice to rub on. And that's exactly what Ronnie wants. When a pervert begins flashing people - Ronnie is convinced the guy will turn Buffalo Bill on Anna and wear her skin. Because he knows if he was going to target anyone, it'd be the most beautiful constant in his domain - and he uses her incident to worm into her life.

At the same time, the Pervert brings Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) - and suddenly his world is threatened. But as things go - it ends up feeding his delusion. Detective Harrison decides he's gonna fuck with Ronnie and it leads to a hilarious first foray into darkness for Mr Barnhardt.

This is the focal point of the film. Where Liotta's Dick decides to drop a pain in his ass on the most violent square of hell in their town - and leaves him to die. The axiom of, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger," is proven to Ronnie. Ronnie did not break. Ronnie did not die. Instead, Ronnie rises to the occasion. Now, Ronnie realizes his real potential. He can not only guard the Mall - but the city, and sets out to become a cop. Mall cop to the city. The protector of not just the retail, but the residential.

From there - Ronnie could only become a hero. He's off his meds and headed to scream out, "TOP OF THE WORLD MA!" And that's not quite how it goes - but spoiling the path of this film would be a crime. The cast is uniformly wonderful. Michael Peña's Dennis is a classic. The Yuan Brothers - who play the Yuen Brothers are instant "cinema characters" and I doubt seriously this will be the last time we see them. Collette Wolfe's broken Nell is in many ways perhaps my favorite character. She's a gal with a broken leg... And the broken leg kinda defines her. She's a healing character. There seems like there's so much to her, but she's on the mend. She's a girl with potential if she can just put it all together. Collette really adds a lot to that character and brings it a soul.

I know I don't talk about this film like its a comedy, but the laughs are there. They're not necessarily punchline humor, so much as scenes that culiminate or that are punctuated with laughter... and sometimes the humor comes from what you yourself find funny in the film, where you suddenly find yourself laughing and you're surprised your humor kicked in instead of outrage.

I'm glad that EASTBOUND & DOWN has been picked up for a second season and I find myself wondering what Jody does next. He's on a separate path from even his own comic star discovery of Danny McBride. But two features in and you can already tell... there's something different with this guy - his career deserves and calls for careful consideration. He doesn't make disposable comedies about cardboard comics. His characters have depth and meaning. And his films have weight. Something not too often found in the Comedy genre.