Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill have been easy to mix up and compare over the years, and not just because Hill played a young Rogen in “Superbad.” They are both overweight comedians who got their start in the Judd Apatow universe, and each are best known for playing crude, somewhat dim, boisterous characters. However, just as they rose to comedic fame at the same time, they are showing new range to their routines at the same time as well.
Both Rogen and Hill have not only lost a large amount of weight lately, they are starting to appear in more than Apatow comedies. In fact, they are both getting noticed for critically acclaimed ‘dramadies’ this month, as Hill went toe-to-toe with Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” and Rogen opened his cancer comedy “50/50″ a week later. Each film is getting rave reviews and awards buzz, and each film is showing that these two comics can do more than bumble around in R-rated comedies.
It isn’t like they are completely breaking away from comedy relief, since Hill and Rogen are each technically comedy sidekicks in “Moneyball” and “50/50.” Yet they are proving to critics that they don’t have to use pot gags and act stupid to be funny, and can even fit into movies that have drama and comedy in equal measure.
Rogen technically proved that already in “Knocked Up” but there has been a backlash against him as he either seems to play the same persona over and over, or can’t escape it when he tries to stretch. He was regarded as a weak link as early as “Pineapple Express” and failed to convince many viewers as a psycho mall cop in “Observe and Report” or a superhero in “The Green Hornet.” It looked as if Rogen was starting to peak and become repetitive, yet “50/50″ could provide a much-needed jolt to his career, which comes just in time after “The Green Hornet” tanked.
Hill has been inching towards branching out as well, as he actually played the straight man to Russell Brand in “Get Him To The Greek” got indie cred as a disturbed mother’s boy in “Cyrus” and even tried to voice an animated super villain in “Megamind.” Now like Rogen, Hill has dramatically lost weight to break away from his fat, loud, bumbling movie persona.
Yet before he did lose weight, he found time to break away from his usual act in “Moneyball” and is winning his best reviews to date. With that new buzz surrounding him, perhaps it will be easier for fans to adjust to Hill when his thinner self is finally seen on the big screen. Rogen had a hard time making audiences adjust after he lost weight, although “50/50″ may finally help him get back on his feet.
It will take more for Rogen and Hill to break completely free from the personas they formed in Judd Apatow movies. But they are finally starting to prove they can do more than their usual routines on screen, and are doing so at the same time with two of the year’s most acclaimed films. Yet since Rogen and Hill broke through in comedy at the same time and lost weight at about the same time, it is fitting that they are making semi-dramatic breakthroughs just a week apart as well.