Perhaps it’s due to prevailing economic conditions that we’ve gotten a pair of movies this year about men so dissatisfied with their jobs, at heart, that they must inflate their sense of self with a kind of delusional self-image that borders on a messiah complex. Interesting too that both of those films are about mall security officers, a professional where in the scope of your actual law enforcement power is so limited; you’re kind of a cop, but not really. So what makes Observe & Report better than Paul Blart: Mall Cop? Well, one is good and one is bad. One is a dark comedy about the realistic limitations in the face of ambition and the other is an hour and half of fat jokes at Kevin James’ expense.

What’s odd is that there really are quite a few similarities between Blart and Observe. Each film is about a mall security guard drunk on a misguided sense of his own power; they both have ambitions beyond walking (or in Blart’s case, segwaying) up and down the mall all day; they both fall in love with a beautiful kiosk vendor; and they’re both utter and complete disasters as people. In Ronnie’s case, his sense of dictatorial control goes to DEFCON 2 when a pervert flashes several women in the mall parking lot, including his beloved make-up counter girl, Brandi. Despite his protestations that the cops never solve anything, Ronnie’s doubly invested in finding the pervert in order to show up the flashier Det. Harrison and impress the woman he loves, Brandi.

Eventually though, the pervert becomes inconsequential. Ronnie, played by Seth Rogen, seems to have been on this collision course for a while. A twisted nerve of squandered potential and misplaced ambition, he goes to the firing range to live a piece of his dream that one day the security guards at the mall will be trusted with firearms. This is much darker than Rogen usually gets, fitting snugly into the pants of a loveable loser who only pushes against the world when fate pushes him. The clinically deluded Ronnie is a perfect fit for the actor, written another way he could almost be like Robin Williams’ character from One Hour Photo.

Like a lot of good black comedy, there’s a down and dirty realism to the film that makes it even more achingly funny. Despite his initial minor successes, Ronnie is never too far from failure. His seduction of Brandi (played by the always great Anna Faris) was, I’m sure, a rousing success in his own mind, but in reality only because Brandi was drunk. He comes close to getting into the police academy, but seriously blows his psychological exam due to an overzealous confidence in seeing his own dementia as sanity. Rogen does surprisingly well at balancing the fact that Ronnie’s a borderline sociopath, while still making you kind of want to root for him.

Of course, helping the matter is that amongst the insanity of the inner world of the film, the bipolar security guard who’s armed, and dangerous, and off his meds is the most easy to identify with character here. Thematically speaking if you liked the Michael Douglas movie Falling Down, then you’ll find a kindred spirit in Observe & Report. It’s not going to make everyone’s “Best of…” list, but it doesn’t matter because if you have a perverse enough sense of humour, it’s going to reach you. But say what you want Observe & Report but it defies expectations and throws off the Rated-G antics of Blart as well as Rogen’s image as the loveable schlub. Enjoy at your own risk.