point, advancing his own sense of humour and elevating fresh talent in accordance with what we’re crying
out for as a culture. Even when we don’t realise we want it.
It’s most evident in the shocked reaction to the success of Good Boys, which Rogen brought to the screen
with his long-time producing partner Evan Goldberg, and that this weekend grossed $21m at the US box
office and became the first R-rated comedy to open at number one since 2016. That it has made so much
money has been described as a welcome surprise, but it truly shouldn’t have been, as it fits squarely into the
modern Rogen wheelhouse – potty-mouthed and silly, but with very human and heartwarming conflicts
interspersed with gags about sex swings, masturbation and anal beads.
A decade ago, a run of hits including Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and The 40-Year-Old Virgin
cemented Rogen as cinema’s go-to slacker, framed in clouds of marijuana smoke with glamorous blondes
such as Katherine Heigl and Amber Heard on his arm. It was an enjoyable on-screen persona cultivated by
comedy super-producer Judd Apatow eight years earlier, after Rogen, then a teenage stand-up on the
Vancouver comedy circuit, landed an audition for Apatow’s teen comedy series Freaks and Geeks and
subsequently moved to Los Angeles.
Freaks and Geeks would only run for 18 episodes, each one its own mini-masterpiece driven by very real
feelings of being an outsider and trying beyond all measure to fit in and discover yourself. But despite its
curtailed existence, Freaks and Geeks would birth a cult fanbase and a staggering number of stars, from
series regulars James Franco, Linda Cardellini, Jason Segel and Busy Philipps, to guest stars like Rashida
Jones, Ben Foster and Lizzy Caplan.
‘Freaks and Geeks’ gave Rogen his break
(NBC)
Rogen, however, was its most unexpected breakout, possessing
a schlubby energy that felt markedly different for an era in which
Orlando Bloom and Justin Timberlake were popular male pin-
ups. But while there was something vaguely revolutionary about
Rogen becoming a leading man, many of the films that assisted
his rise to fame often echoed the lazier comedy tactics of the era.
They were largely very good, Superbad and Knocked Up in
particular modern classics of a sort, but they also struggled to
give their female characters much to do.
They had a tendency to be written as uptight nags struggling to
keep their men in check, as articulated, in inexplicably
controversial comments to Vanity Fair at the time, by Knocked
Up’s Katherine Heigl: “It paints the women as shrews, as
humourless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy,
fun-loving guys,” she said. Many of their jokes, meanwhile, were
endlessly buoyed by casual homophobia. We laughed, and if we
continue to do so today, it is with the knowledge that much of
this has become regressive and mean in the years since.
But instead of complaining about the fact that his “brand” has
aged poorly, or loudly pushing the same sense of humour,
regardless of whether it has fallen out of favour, Rogen has
matured. “I think if you actually care, then it’s easy,” Rogen told
GQ Magazine in May. “We do not want people to feel bad when
they’re watching our movies. I’ve had people come up to me and
be like, ‘That made me feel like shit when I was in the movie
theatre and everyone was laughing about that.’ Like the ‘How I