I will give any movie a ton of credit that can make me dislike a character so much that you almost want to turn the movie off, if not for the perverse sense of wanting to see what will happen next. Seth Rogen's Ronnie Barnhardt is all that and more, just as depressing as an old high school buddy still living with their parents "living the good life" (according to them at least) and just as aggravating as a close-minded reactionary relative at a family gathering. I never hated Ronnie, but jesus did I want him to get his comeuppance.
The beautiful thing about the film is that he never really does. Its odd to say that I know, but this movie takes place entirely in Ronnie's world, and in Ronnie's world the heros win and the bad guys get theirs. Naturally, Ronnie never sees himself as the flawed hero, he's always right (even when we want to scream at him desperately to stop being such a tool.)
When you create your movie you have to create your world and the characters to populate it, Ronnie is so nuts that I wouldn't doubt he created his own world and hand-picked his own people to populate it based on his own insane ideals. He's got enabling friends, patronizing bosses, brown-skinned villians and of course the "damsel" in distress. With out getting too Frickian, it's like he watched Commando and thought it was a documentary.
I'm not sure what else can be said about the film, its vile and repulsive but weirdly redemptive. Just when you think Ronnie is going to learn his lesson, at the last minute, he doesn't. It's so nice to see someone play around with formula so much that even you're surprised when you realize they've been making their own for the whole movie.
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