know you’re gay’ thing [from The 40-Year-Old Virgin], it’s
something people have been like, ‘It’s not fun to be in the
theatre when people are laughing at that, knowing what they’re
probably actually laughing at.’ And I don’t want anyone to have
that experience watching our movies.”‘Good Boys’ fits squarely into the modern Rogen wheelhouse – potty-mouthed and silly, but with very
human and heartwarming conflicts
Long Shot, his May romantic comedy with Charlize Theron, didn’t set the box office alight, but it
demonstrated how dedicated Rogen was to improving upon his weaker impulses a decade ago. In the film,
Theron is every bit Rogen’s comic equal, with greater pathos and personality than the vast majority of
Rogen’s on-screen love interests in the past.
Behind the camera, too, his evolution is easily seen. Last year’s Blockers, which he produced, was a female
spin on American Pie, starring a trio of teenage girls eager to lose their virginity on prom night, and the
busy-bodying parents desperate to stop them. It was still dirty and sweary and occasionally scatalogical but
also had real heart, with a sensitively told coming-out story and genuine understanding of being a teenage
girl baked into it. This was largely down to director Kay Cannon, who was brought on by Rogen to
transform what was reportedly a grim parent-centric script called Cherries.
This new Rogen hasn’t always been lucrative – indeed, the failure of Long Shot rivalled only that of
Booksmart in terms of the “what does this mean for Hollywood?” think pieces it produced. But it did mark
an exciting new creative era for the star, who appears to have finally found his groove in an industry that has
shifted enormously since his box-office heyday.
Those professional left-turns haven’t always been successful. One of the most interesting chapters of
Rogen’s career came at the beginning of this decade, when his attempts to break into new genres resulted in
a run of critical and commercial failures. The Green Hornet, his doomed adaptation of the famed 1930s
serial, was an expensive disaster, earning Rogen career-worst reviews, while The Guilt Trip, a tonally
uncertain team-up with Barbra Streisand, wasn’t the cosy Christmas hit many expected it to be. But both
projects were valuable lessons, he has said, in particular The Green Hornet.
Three amigos: Keith L Williams, Jacob
Tremblay and Brady Noon in ‘Good Boys’ (Sony
Pictures)