And I would!  For an overweight, kinda disheveled guy who gives off a definite fear-of-intimacy type of vibe, Seth Rogen has a definite charisma and appeal to him.  But, is he believable as a super hero?  That’s the question posed by the new film, the Green Hornet.

In The Green Hornet, Rogen plays Britt Reid, the son of a wealthy Los Angeles newspaper publisher.  Britt has a difficult relationship with his dad (played by the great Tom Wilkinson).  His dad constantly reminds Britt that he’s wasting his potential and Britt responds by holding wild parties and throwing TVs off of balconies.  (I’ve always wondered what the children of rich people do whenever their favorite show comes on since they always seem to be destroying any nearby televisions.)  Anyway, Britt’s dad suddenly dies and just as suddenly, Britt inherits both his dad’s newspaper and one of his dad’s mechanics, Kato (Jay Chou).  It turns out that Kato is something of a genius who spends his spare time sketching women, bullet-proofing cars, and making weapons.  Kato’s also a skilled martial artist.  Well, of course, what else can Britt do but fight crime with Kato as his loyal sidekick?  Of course, fighting crime means coming into conflict with the biggest crime lord in Los Angeles, a paranoid Russian mobster (Inglorious Basterd’s Christoph Waltz) who is having a rather bloody midlife crisis.  Along the way, Rogen also hires Cameron Diaz to work at the newspaper and soon finds himself competing with Kato for her affections.  (I can’t remember, off the top of my head, the name of the character that Diaz plays but it doesn’t really matter.  Much like Gwynneth Paltrow in the Iron Man movies, Diaz is mostly there to be herself.)

So, is Rogen a convincing super hero?  No, not really.  But that’s kind of the point of the entire movie.  If The Dark Knight was the first truly postmodern comic book movie than The Green Hornet is the first mumblecore one.  If The Dark Knight was the first movie to question what the deeper meaning of comic book heroism might be, The Green Hornet is the first movie to confidently answer with “there are none.”  As played by Rogen, Britt becomes a super hero because there is literally nothing else to do.  Kato becomes his sidekick for much the same reason while the film’s villain spends most of his time agonizing over what his evil catchphrase should be.  That’s the genius of a The Green Hornet: it’s a super hero film about people who seem to understand that they’re characters in a super hero film and therefore, they have to act accordingly even while they comment on the absurdity of it all.

There is a plot to The Green Hornet but it’s really not that important.  Ultimately, this film is all about Britt’s relationship with Kato.  Kato is upset to constantly find himself being referred to as being the Green Hornet’s sidekick.  Britt, meanwhile, is painfully aware of the fact that he contributes next to nothing to the team.  Both of them find themselves competing for the affections of Diaz who doesn’t appear to have feelings for either of them.  At first, Britt and Kato do the whole male bonding thing and then, after Waltz comes after them, they end up going their separate ways only to reunite in time for the film’s conclusion.  This is a bromance disguised as an action movie but, fortunately, Chou and Rogen are both engaging and likable and they have a definite chemistry together that makes them fun to watch. 

That’s probably the best way to sum up The Green Hornet.  It’s a likable, entertaining, and frequently very funny movie that has a few memorable moments and, in this case, that’s more than good enough.