Would Dale Denton smoke Houseplant? And other analyzes of Seth Rogen’s most iconic characters | green state

In March 2021, North America’s most endearing stoner took the proverbial pot plunge in California and went from avid consumer, cannabis advocate and muse to cannabis grower and seller. legal and approved. Seth Rogen and his childhood best friend, collaborator and business partner, Evan Goldberg, launched Houseplant, a hybrid brand of real-life cannabis and elegant Pottery-Barn-inspired ceramic accessories, in Canada in 2019, but 2021 marked his debut in the United States. The brand immediately sold out buds and accoutrements, not only because of the public’s trust in Rogen to provide them with the zaza (it’s Gen-Z talking about “exotic cannabis”), but also how everything looked. Rogen’s love of ceramics was revealed around the same time, and since then the highly coveted collectibles, despite prices easily exceeding $200 for an ashtray, have remained chronically out of print.

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Houseplant was featured in vogue, Architectural Summaryand other posts, which Rogen said, in his own words on Twitter, was “a sentence that I did not expect to write. Rogen has made a name for himself as an actor and writer who isn’t exactly salt of the earth, but whose underachieving stoner antics belie deep sincerity. Still, it’s still hard to reconcile a brightly colored boutique cannabis brand with a guy who smokes in a gas mask and loves sex jokes.

This begs the question, is it possible that Rogen’s cannabis business even appeals to his cinematic alter-egos? We analyzed Rogen’s most iconic lead and supporting roles to determine if Rogen’s cinematic creations can co-exist in the same universe as his cannabis creations.

Ken Miller, Freaks and Geeks: No, not a chance. Rogen’s breakout role in the prematurely canceled Freaks and Geeks was that of a mutton-chopped “monster”: anti-establishment, anti-conformity, pro-pot. By now Ken would be a near-retirement baby boomer, someone who would rather buy him from an old pal growing up in his garage than put his name on a database or pay taxes. .

Officer Michaels, Superbad: If you’re on the younger side of the millennial spectrum, chances are this move is etched in your brain. Rogen and Goldberg’s first successful collaboration paved the way for the decade of comedy they would create and without which Houseplant would not exist. While Rogen wrote his own eponymous character, “Seth” is played by Jonah Hill and Rogen comes across as an emotional and hedonistic cop. I can see Officer Michaels picking up a doobie from an investor-backed dispensary like Medmen on his days off, but young Seth in the movie is underage and I should not bail out cannabis-consuming minors.

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Ben, Knocked Up: With this film, Rogen proved he could turn his teddy bear brother persona into a romantic lead. Ben is an oblivious guy’s guy with no sense of the future when he meets Katheirn Heigel’s Alison. Throughout the film, we see him stop hitting the bong and read more baby books, and we’re led to believe that he won’t be wading into parenthood by the end of the film. I tend to say no, if only because babies are expensive, even more so than Houseplant products.

Zack, Zack and Miri make a porno: Rogen wears glasses, underachieving Zack goes to Pennsylvania. He and Miri decide to produce their own porn movie when their apartment bills exceed their meager salaries, and so begins a quintessential raunchy late 2000s comedy. grimaces galore, but oddly enough, Zack doesn’t even smoke weed once the whole movie. While it’s not a movie about weed, it’s definitely informed by weed, which Rogen admitted to blowing all day, every day. While Zack spends most of the movie without running water, I wouldn’t make him forget to take a hit from his ceramic gravity bong every once in a while now that the adult movie dollars are pouring in.

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Mac, Neighbors: Rogen’s Mac, a new dad who finds himself at odds and at odds with the neighboring fraternity house, is unlike most Rogen characters; while smoking weed, he claims to have trouble finding any. He’s also willing to call the police for the sake of his family, which is more narcissistic than you might think. I think Mac is actually the boss for potted recreational products: they’re childproof, they’re labeled, and they’re dosed for control, not a college hater.

Aaron Rappaport, The Interview: This controversial film is another example of Rogen not smoking weed onscreen. Aaron, producer of celebrity show Skylark Tonight, displays a simpler ambition than most of Rogen’s previous incarnations, with a desire to break into 60 Minutes-style journalism. Considering he’s in North Korea for most of the film, where cannabis is highly illegal, it makes sense he’d never get his hands on kush. By the end of the film, he has achieved the intellectual respect he craved, although he seems to have a greater fondness for the coca leaf than the cannabis bud.

Himself, This is The End: This one is easy: yes. Rogen plays himself, so of course he’ll get high on his own supply. Next!

Dale Denton, Pineapple Express: In Dale’s first scene, he launches a line about legalizing cannabis within the next five years; after all, “everyone smokes weed”. A stoner buddy comedy for the ages, Rogen and Franco (now estranged) executed weed cultivation perfectly in 2008, before it was legal for recreational use anywhere in the country. Dale is, like many of Rogen’s characters, charming but stuck up. He’s smarter than he lets on (despite having a high school girlfriend), but he likes to smoke weed. And it’s precisely this propensity that lands him in a crime spree with crime bosses, crooked cops and Danny McBride. While I doubt that’s his intention, the film shows in part how good regulation can be, in that allowing millions of Americans safe access to cannabis would preclude much of the antics depicted in the screen. But would Dale want to start getting his taxed and regulated cannabis from a dispensary that looks like an Apple store? I can not see him. If he still smokes weed, it would be from a plant in his closet.

Amelia Williams is a freelance writer.