Observe and Report
An anonymous flasher exposes himself to shoppers in the Forest Ridge Mall parking lot. The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen), makes it his mission to apprehend the offender. He is assisted by Charles and Dennis, and the Yuen twins, 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 outside person 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 Iraqi shopkeeper in the mall is the thief, based only on the fact that he is Iraqi. In response, Harrison curses out Ronnie during a meeting with Ronnie's superior, and Ronnie decides to take the steps necessary 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 sex with her.
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 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 severe beating. Depressed, he is coerced 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 quite 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, damaging mall property in the process. Ronnie refuses to leave the mall and police are called in. Ronnie fights off many officers before being beaten in a fist fight with Harrison.
After a brief time in jail, and once his wounds heal, Ronnie returns to the mall, although now no longer as a security guard. He is approached by Nell back on both legs, and she kisses him to console him. Interrupting their romantic moment, the pervert flashes 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 from previously in the face, retrieves a gun from a closet and shoots the flasher as he approaches Brandi. Though she thanks him, Ronnie rejects her for sleeping with Harrison.
Refusing the flasher an ambulance, Ronnie takes him to the police station, impressing and insulting the officers who had previously ridiculed him. A victorious Ronnie is then interviewed with the other security guards and he is accompanied by Nell, who is now his new girlfriend, and he returns back to his job as the head of mall security.
