At this point in our movie-going careers, we've come to expect a certain something from a Seth Rogen movie, especially when the movie was co-written by Rogen and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, the duo that gave us Superbad and Pineapple Express. The Green Hornet, which opens this weekend, is one of those movies - except that it isn't. It just wants to be. A Rogen/Goldberg production is defined by the freedom to say whatever it likes, which often results in outrageous and unpredictable humor. After delivering hit after unlikely hit to his studio, Rogen has become one of the more autonomous filmmakers in Hollywood. Along with the rest of Judd Apatow's comedy clique, he's almost solely responsible for the wave of R-rated-ness that's dominated Hollywood of late. But, when it comes to a $120 million budget, even Seth Rogen has to play by the rules. Unfortunately - and almost certainly because of Sony's crippling need to market it to 12 year olds - The Green Hornet tries to follow the Rogen/Goldberg playbook without ever really committing to it. And that's a problem.

The Green Hornet would have made a nice companion piece to Kick-Ass, another action comedy about ordinary folk who become masked vigilantes in order to find a higher purpose. Kick-Ass held nothing back: The violence was bloody and visceral yet cartoonish, and the language was foul. It left us feeling giddy, a kids movie that kids were too young to see.

Conversely, The Green Hornet might go down in history as the movie with the highest of body count ratio to least amount of blood. Seth Rogen's Britt Daniels, a hard-partying newspaper heir who eventually becomes the Green Hornet, is a big fan of the word "shit." He says it when his coffee isn't made right. It's easy to imagine Rogen and Goldberg censoring themselves in between bong hits. But have you ever known anyone who says "shit" and doesn't use its sister word, "fuck," just as freely? Apparently Britt Daniels saves all his F-bombs for when he isn't being chased down by an 18-wheeler.

The Green Hornet is not without its Rogian charms. There's the troubled bromance, this time between Britt Daniels and his trusty, far more talented sidekick Kato (Jay Chou), and the she's-way-out-of-his-league blonde, brought to you by Cameron Diaz's brainy secretary, Lenore Case. There's also special effects and stunts galore, which Sony hopes will be the film's true selling point. Not to mention the critical 3D that was added in post production for that extra zing. But none of that makes up for the fact that this movie is lost in ratings purgatory, one foot in PG heaven, the other being sucked into R-rated hell. As it stands now, The Green Hornet is a mildly amusing, self-referential take on the superhero genre made by a couple of outsiders who are finding themselves just a tad too much on the inside.