7 Movies That Were Way Weirder Than Advertised

The 2000s saw Seth Rogen emerge as one of the hottest new comedy stars around. Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express established the Canadian actor and writer as a master of stoner humour with a loveable persona.

So when Rogen's 2009 movie Observe and Report arrived, casting him as a mall security guard with an inflated sense of purpose, audiences doubtless anticipated something in much the same vein, particularly given that the film landed in the same year as Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The film's marketing did nothing to suggest otherwise.

However, writer-director Jody Hill's film is considerably darker than its publicity and its leading man's persona might have implied. Rogen's security guard Ronnie isn't just a well-meaning dimwit, he's dangerously deluded and struggling with bipolar disorder. Anxious to win him the love of Anna Faris' make-up counter attendant Brandi, he's become fixated on hunting down a flasher who's been terrorising the mall.

The envelope-pushing humour includes the racial profiling an Arabic retailer, peeping on women in the fitting room, beating up teenage skaters, and perhaps most notoriously a sex scene which almost certainly constitutes date rape.

It's not too surprising, then, that Observe and Report wound up Rogen's first real box office flop, although it may be worth revisiting if you've got the stomach for it.