Seth Rogen: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

seth rogen this is the end

Seth Rogen became one of the decade's most unlikely stars in Hollywood thanks to a string of high-earning comedies made with his long time friend, writer, producer and director Judd Apatow. During around the time they were making The 40 Year Old Virgin (of which Rogen had a supporting role in one of his biggest early film parts), Judd Apatow pitched in a meeting for his follow-up; €œWhat if this guy got you pregnant?€, pointing to Seth. Apparently, it was enough to seal the deal with Universal Pictures and Knocked Up was born... the movie that turned Seth Rogen into a household name.

Audiences liked his goofy laugh and slacker personality, which became somewhat of a trademark. Suddenly, he was everywhere, popping up in two or three movies a year and even managing to co-write and co-direct, which further solidified his status in the industry after they exploded into huge hits.

While he doesn€™t fit the mold of your classically-handsome movie actor, Rogen makes up for it with his lovable charm and extremely likeable personality that make him the Bill Murray of his generation. He has a very approachable, relatable demeanor as we all have friends who either talk or act like Seth Rogen, and watching his films is often like hanging out with one of your mates.

In honor of Seth Rogen€™s latest film This Is The End (in which he starred, co-wrote and co-directed and opens in the UK today) allow us to venture into his filmography and highlight the best performances...and the not-so-great ones, in the latest addition of 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked...

5 Awesome Performances...

5. Officer Michaels - Superbad

superbad

Superbad was a smash hit that came from left-field and took the industry by surprise in 2007. It starred a then-unknown Jonah Hill and a somewhat-known Michael Cera and catapulted them to stardom, earning more than 8 times its budget and helped resuscitate the teen comedy genre that had pretty much disappeared in the latter half of the 2000s. Though it's rather funny to learn that Superbad started out as a screenplay from a 13-year-old Seth Rogen and his friend Evan Goldberg.

All throughout his rising career, Seth and Evan continued to polish up Superbad in the hopes of getting it made. Once Judd Apatow had some success in the film world, he was able to produce Superbad for them and they got the ball rolling. Originally, Seth Rogen was to play the lead role of Seth but since he looked much older when the film finally got made, he decided to slip into a different role: Officer Michaels. He€™s a grown man who still has a little bit of that childlike attitude left inside of him. He drinks, he pretends his flashlight is a lightsaber and he uses the cop car sirens to clear the roads, spending the majority of the second act as one of the main characters of the film.

Seth Rogen nails this role as being a regular guy who happened to join the police force and merrily parades the benefits that come with the territory. Plain and simple, he€™s fun to watch and fun to hang out with. The film makes it seem like Seth was having the time of his life and this bleeds over into our viewing experience.

Contributor
Contributor

Ryan Estabrooks is a film writer/director and photographer. When he is not busy solving mysteries, he can be found working on his feature length film. You can view all of his work at the imaginatively-titled RyanEstabrooks.com