Last month Observe and Report sat at number five in the Aussie box office rankings helped no doubt by Rogan’s thousands of local fans, many of whom sit squarely in the demographic dealing with the knee-slapping hilarity of date rape.
It would be foolish to expect a Seth Rogen comedy to adhere to any sort of real-world moral code. Much of his work is contrived to push limits and offend and, while this movie takes a wild swing at bleak social satire, it commits the greatest sin of comedy - it’s not funny.
What’s even less amusing is the real-life rationalisations flowing from Rogen as well as those of several male media commentators.
Rogen, who shot to fame in films like Knocked Up and Superbad, says: “You can literally feel the audience thinking how … are they going to make this okay? Like what can possibly be said or done that I'm not going to walk out of the movie theatre in the next 30 seconds? And then she says, like the one thing that makes it all okay."
What Rogen and the film’s writer and director, Jody Hill, deem okay is for the drugged woman, played by Anna Faris to wake to semi-consciousness during sex and slur, "did I tell you to stop, motherf---er?"
Time magazine film critic Richard Corliss called the scene "the finest thing" in the movie, commenting that it “achieves what few American movies even attempt: to pinpoint the grim compromise, the desperation, that can attend the sex act.”
Dave Itzkoff’s New York Times profile of director Hill says: “In another scene he [Rogen] forces himself on a makeup-counter saleswoman after a date of heavy drinking and drug use. (Before the scene is over she indicates that she had given her consent.)”
The problem with all these responses are they perpetuate the idea that if a woman is so off her face she can barely talk, then this is a good time for sex.
It is not.
In the last few months, we’ve heard a lot about the “grey areas” of sexual consent and like it or not, it’s time men understood that if a woman’s ability to say “yes” to sex is in any way “grey” or confused, then sex is off the agenda.
Instead, we get 66-year-old Time magazine writer Corliss saying of a scene that clearly depicts date rape: “Don't call it love; don't call it grand; but whatever it is, don't stop.”
Dude … you don’t even start.
If a girl is so drunk she can’t keep her eyes open, that’s the end of the night. Taking it any further is called sexual assault and this includes touching, licking, probing and rubbing yourself on her like a mongrel dog while she’s passed out.
If a girl can’t talk, you put her in a cab or you put her in bed and you sleep on the couch. If, when she wakes the next day she’s lost her drunken attraction to you, you have your answer as to whether sexual advances the night before would have been a good idea.
I'm sure there are guys reading this who are thinking "derr, I don't need to be told this by some fruit in suit who writes for Fairfax, I would never never rape anybody."
Well, let's hear from you.
As I was writing this post, I got an email from a reader who sent me a online piece by a woman identified only as Lucy, who has something to say to you if you're "that guy".
She says, "if you're that guy who would never rape a girl passed out on your bed or the woman in the village your battalion is overrunning ..."
"You're the guy who wouldn't do such a thing even when his buddies are heckling him, telling him he's a fag and a pussy if he doesn't. Even more, you're the guy who would stop his frat brother from raping that girl, and get her home. You're the guy who would stop his comrades, or at least report them."
"And to lose the sarcasm for a minute, I'm sure some of you are. Lord knows, I believe that of most of the men I am close to. Or at least, I desperately want to."
"Now, here's my question: where the f--- are you?"
Lucy wants to know why there aren't more stories of 'the guy who got me home when I was seriously drunk and my boyfriend wasn't looking out for me'? Why we don't hear more men speaking up about the times they acted honorably and did the right thing?
Says Lucy: "You probably have stories of a time when your friend was at your apartment drunk and you didn't rape her. And you don't tell them because you don't think that's even a story. And it shouldn't be, but let me tell you: you should start telling them, because those 18-year-old boys who don't think they're bad guys sure aren't listening to us. Maybe they'll listen to you."
"Men raping women is systemic and cultural, and yes it is the patriarchy and it is misogyny and it is men thinking they are entitled to women's bodies. 'Well, what did she expect, getting drunk like that?' isn't salt in the wound, it is the foundation of the problem."
"The idea that if a woman is not actively preventing a man from sticking his penis into her, he is doing nothing wrong, and 'hey, who can blame him', IS THE PROBLEM."
"So I say to men everywhere: if statements like the ones I made above piss you off, try taking it up with the men who make it so. Either be 'that guy', or shut up. If you do nothing else, let us name the problem for what it is."
And this is the problem with the scene in Observe and Report.
It gets in.
Young guys see this stuff in a cinema - and everyone's laughing about it - so how serious can it be?
Seth Rogen is one of the biggest comic stars in the world today and it’s his job description to push the envelope, but I have to think that getting laughs out of date rape falls into the category of early 20th century racist and derogatory humour we now can’t believe was ever found funny.
I discussed this issue with Comedian Wil Anderson last month, whose ABC show The Gruen Transfer copped much criticism over an un-aired fake ad that compared ridiculing fat people to racist jokes.
Anderson’s rule with humour is “that if the person has brought a situation on themselves, they’re fair game” to be mocked for it, which is why he agreed rape is never funny.
No woman ever brings rape on herself: no matter how drunk she is, not matter how flirtatious, no matter how stupid and sadly, there's waaaay too many guys who don't get this.
They view sex as a gem to be prised from its setting, a game to be won, no matter what.
Thankfully there are popular artists showing that you can win fans by addressing this topic with some enlightenment.
The video clip for US rapper Asher Roth's hit single "I Love College" has had more than eight million views on YouTube and contains the lyrics, “Don't leave the house 'til the booze is gone, and don't have sex if she's too gone.”
Sure it’s a mixed message about personal responsibility, but it’s a start.