Observe and Report - Plot

Plot

An anonymous flasher exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronald "Ronnie" Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. He is assisted by Charles (Jesse Plemons) and Dennis (Michael Peña), and the Yuen twins (John Yuan and Matthew Yuan), in his efforts.

Ronnie's dream girl, Brandi (Anna Faris) who works a mall make-up counter, is flashed the next day, becoming distraught over the situation. Ronnie tries to comfort her until a police officer, Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), arrives and takes over Ronnie's palliative role. Ronnie feels threatened by this and is upset that his boss allowed an outsider to infringe on his search for the offender.

The criminal activity at the mall continues, as a masked person is seen robbing a shoe store, causing property damage. Detective Harrison is once again called in to investigate, his efforts hindered by Ronnie, who thinks that an Arab shopkeeper (Aziz Ansari) in the mall is the thief, based on the fact that he is an Arab. In response, Harrison curses out Ronnie during a meeting with Ronnie's superior, and Ronnie decides to take steps to become a real police officer.

As part of his preparations, Ronnie decides to ride along with Detective Harrison. Harrison, fed up with Ronnie, tricks him into walking into the most dangerous part of town, and drives off. Ronnie then confronts and subsequently subdues several drug dealers, victoriously returning to the police station with a dealer's son and thanking the detective for the opportunity to prove himself. Emboldened, Ronnie arranges a date with Brandi. On their date, Brandi consumes a large quantity of alcohol as well as several tablets of clonazepam which she took from Ronnie. Ronnie takes her home and has intercourse with her while she is semi-conscious.

Ronnie fails the psychological examination for the police officer job. Nell (Collette Wolfe), a friendly food court worker, explains to him that her boss Roger (Patton Oswalt) and another female employee make fun of Nell for having her leg in a cast, leading Ronnie to threaten the two after giving Roger a beating. Depressed, he is persuaded by Dennis to spend the day doing a wide variety of drugs and assaulting skateboarding teenagers. At the end of the day, Ronnie finds out that Dennis was the shoe thief, and that he has been stealing from the mall for some time. Ronnie is stunned and, after a brief argument, is knocked unconscious from behind by Dennis, who then flees to Mexico.

Ronnie decides to go "undercover" in order to catch the flasher. At night he sees Harrison having sex with Brandi in his cruiser, and he confronts her in front of onlookers at the mall the next day, blowing his cover and damaging mall property in the process. Ronnie refuses to leave the mall and police are called in. Ronnie fights off many officers before losing a fist fight with Harrison.

After one night in jail, and once his wounds heal, Ronnie returns to the mall, although no longer a security guard. He is approached by Nell back on both legs, and she kisses him to console him. Interrupting their romantic moment, the flasher exposes himself to Nell and Ronnie and runs off, exposing himself to many other mall patrons. Ronnie, pursuing the flasher in a slow-motion sequence that includes him punching the Iraqi clerk in the face, retrieves a gun and shoots the flasher as he approaches Brandi. Though she thanks him, Ronnie rejects and humiliates her for betraying him.

Refusing the flasher an ambulance, Ronnie takes him to the police station, impressing and insulting the officers who had previously ridiculed him, including Harrison. A victorious Ronnie is then interviewed with the other security guards and he is accompanied by Nell, who is now his girlfriend, and he returns to his job as the head of mall security.