Seth Rogen: The Godfather of fat, charmless sidekick roles becomes an action hero. And Doesn’t Change All That Much to Do It

In The Green Hornet Seth Rogen plays a fat, hard partying loud mouth who stumbles into being an action hero. The role is a huge departure for Rogen who has played a fatter, pothead loud mouth who stumbles into being a porn star in Zach & Miri Make a Porno, a fugitive in Pineapple Express, a comedian in Funny People, and a father in Knocked Up.

All these are leading man roles from Hollywood’s least likely leading man. Before that he reinvented the fat, charmless sidekick role John Belushi pioneered in Animal House. I loved Rogen showing Steve Carell the ropes in 40 Year Old Virgin. Then I liked Jonah Hill showing Michael Cera the ropes in Super Bad. Then I sort of was amused at Clark Duke showing Josh Zuckerman the ropes in Sex Drive. Then I hated Dan Fogelman showing Dane Cook the ropes in Good Luck Chuck. And by the time Josh Gad was screaming in Jake Gyllenhaal’s ear and masturbating to his sex tape in Love and Other Drugs I never wanted to see a fat guy give sex tips again.

What none of these imposters really gets is that Rogen’s appeal isn’t just curly hair and a penchant for talking about sex, weed, farts, and not much else. It’s in the question of “How in the fuck did this guy get to be in a movie and why am I enjoying watching him?” If Rogen can be a star, anyone can be and that everyman appeal is vastly diminished if I’m watching a dozen Rogen clones also talk about sex, weed, farts, and not much else. Besides, all of these guys are harmless teddy bears but Rogen—in his best role—has an anger that makes him more dynamic.

The best performance of Rogen’s career was as a bipolar, borderline psychotic mall security guard in Observe and Report. For the first time he wasn’t just the soft bellied pothead with a goofy smile and novelty t-shirt. He was a walking joke tired of being that way, and expressed a hair trigger rage that felt like a catharsis for Rogen. It was also his biggest box office flop.

Rogen is back to comfortable territory playing a likably selfish jackass in The Green Hornet, and is also back to enjoying a 20 million dollar opening weekend. But if his best moments are—like his Funny People costar Adam Sandler—when he’s angry and dangerous, how quickly can we find a way to make him mad again?