Observe and Report

Plot[edit]

An anonymous flasher exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt, makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. But while Ronnie is ostensibly well-intentioned and valiant in his own mind, in reality he is emotionally unstable, with vigilante tendencies, apparently experiencing bipolar disorder and displaying violent ideation, among other problems.


The criminal activity at the mall continues as the flasher exposes himself to makeup counter worker Brandi and a masked robber causes property damage at a shoe store. In both instances, Detective Harrison, a police detective, arrives to investigate. He and Ronnie dislike each other, as Ronnie believes Harrison is taking over his proper role as investigator and Harrison believes Ronnie is disrupting the investigation.


Ronnie decides to take steps to become a police officer. As part of his preparations, he decides to ride along with Harrison. Harrison tricks him into walking into the most dangerous part of town and drives off. Ronnie then confronts and assaults several drug dealers, victoriously returning to the police station with a dealer's son and thanking Harrison for the opportunity to prove himself.


Emboldened, Ronnie arranges a date with Brandi. On their date, she sees him taking a prescription clonazepam and assumes that he takes them recreationally. She asks him to share and he gives her the entire bottle, believing he no longer needs his it. Ronnie takes her home and has sex with her while she is semi-conscious.


Ronnie passes the background check and physical examination for the police officer job, but fails the psychological examination. Nell, a friendly food court worker, tearfully tells Ronnie that her coworker, Trina, and her boss, Roger, tease her for having her leg in a cast. Ronnie beats Roger up and warns him and Trina not to harass Nell again. Depressed, he is persuaded by fellow security officer Dennis to spend the day doing a wide variety of drugs and assaulting skateboarding teenagers. At the end of the day, Dennis reveals that he is the one who has been stealing from the mall. Ronnie insists this is wrong and, after a brief argument, Dennis knocks him unconscious and flees.


Ronnie decides to go undercover to catch the flasher, but when he catches Brandi having sex with Harrison in the parking lot, he confronts her in front of onlookers at the mall the next day, blowing his cover and destroying a display case. The police are summoned and Ronnie fights them off, defeating the regular officers, until he is overpowered by Harrison and arrested.


A few days later, Ronnie's mother gives him a postcard from Dennis in Mexico, who respects Ronnie for caring so much. Ronnie returns to the mall, despondent that he no longer works security. He discovers that Nell's cast has been removed. She kisses him, much to Brandi's outraged jealousy, just before the flasher arrives and exposes himself in the food court.


After a brief chase, Ronnie incapacitates the flasher by shooting him in the shoulder. As he picks the bleeding flasher up, Brandi thanks him, but he rejects and publicly humiliates her for sleeping with Harrison. Ronnie brings the flasher to the police station, gloating that he has won by apprehending him. He is interviewed by the local news, having regained his job and begun dating Nell.