10 Movies That Wanted You To HATE The Hero

We're again using the term "hero" pretty loosely here, given that black comedy Observe and Report is basically the Darkest Timeline version of Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Seth Rogen plays Ronnie Barnhardt, a mentally ill mall cop who attempts to apprehend a serial flasher terrorising the mall where he works.

The marketing presented Ronnie as a well-intended, relatively good-natured weirdo, with Rogen's casting playing perfectly into this. Yet in actuality, Ronnie is a horrible human being.

It's made painfully clear throughout the movie that Ronnie has a hero complex, and viewed through the lens of 2022, it's impossible to watch Jody Hill's film as anything less than an ahead-of-its-time attack on American policing.

But what truly "elevates" Ronnie from offputting oddball to genuinely detestable? First off, there's the deeply uncomfortable scene in which he date-rapes his love interest, Brandi (Anna Faris), and when he finally captures the flasher at film's end, he only does so by shooting him in the shoulder.

While the latter moment is a triumphant one in Ronnie's own mind, to us it's a grossly disproportionate display of force that confirms the danger of a so-called "good guy with a gun."

The film's caustic sensibilities didn't go down too well with critics or audiences back in 2009, but over a decade later, it feels due a re-evaluation from both.