Competing movies with similar settings/premise in passing used to be all the rage. Armageddon-Deep Impact, Volcano-Dante's Peak, Antz-A Bug's Life... When Jody Hill's Observe and Report was announced while Paul Blart: Mall Cop was in the making, it was looking like the two might peck at each other's audience. After seeing Hill's The Foot Fist Way, it became apparent to me that the two films are going to be worlds apart. This Red Band trailer makes that very clear. NSFW, as usual.
While Paul Blart is more sympathetic to its hero's fantasy, giving the hapless security guard an actual threat to shine in, Observe and Report is more interested in giving theirs a harsh reality check.
The Foot Fist Way was a strange film, mainly because Hill's sense of humor is so pitch black and straightfaced that what was supposed to be a comedy turned into a deeply disturbing character study. Observe and Report looks like it's using the same approach; it's going to shun Seth Rogen's affable persona and steer him down a dark place, which should be interesting to see how Rogen copes.
It won't be as successful as Paul Blart, though. That much is obvious just from the MPAA rating.
