ometimes rape is okay. Wait, no, that can’t be right. Rape is never okay, is it? Wait, what if she’s super drunk? Is that okay? Only if I’m drunk too? No, that can’t be right either. Wait—now, follow me closely on this—maybe, if we’re having sex at my mom’s house and she’s super drunk and I’m not and I’m in my element and everything is going pretty well mechanically…then maybe if she mutters some drunken comment I can maybe construe to be an approval of my thrusting, perhaps then it is okay?

This is the convoluted logic of Observe and Report, the story of a bipolar Chief of Mall Security named Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) and his deranged attempt to gain love and respect. Ronnie pursues Brandi (Anna Faris) relentlessly, finally coercing the attractive, ditsy, and presumably promiscuous makeup counter attendant into accompanying him on a date. While he dreams of spending his life with this newfound love interest, she merely tolerates his presence and is much more interested in downing shots than accepting his ongoing sexual advances. Thanks to the effects of tequila and anti-psychotic medications, Ronnie takes immediate control of their first date. Brandi staggers, vomits, staggers, vomits again and cedes complete control over to Ronnie, who is more than willing to take advantage of the situation. Predictably, the scene transitions to Ronnie’s bedroom, which is romantically located in his mother’s house. Then, the sexual adventure begins: he’s on top, she’s on bottom. She’s unconscious while he’s thrusting away, yelling, “Brandi, Brandi!” Noticing Brandi’s rather unresponsive state, Ronnie, in an apparent state of moral confusion, stops moving and looks down at her as she wakes up just long enough to mutter, “Did I tell you to stop, motherfucker?” Brandi then falls right back into her drug induced sleep and Ronnie, having effectively resolved his ethical dilemma, resumes thrusting.

So what’s the problem? After all, she consented, right? At least that’s what the defenders of the movie claim, including Seth Rogen himself. In an interview with the Washington City Paper, Rogen said, “When we’re having sex and she’s unconscious, like you can literally feel the audience thinking, like, how the fuck 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 theater in the next thirty seconds? And then she says, like, the one thing that makes it all okay.” He is, of course, referring to Brandi’s question: “Did I tell you to stop, motherfucker?” However, Brandi’s drunken mutterings do not count as consent; Ronnie raped her. It’s as simple as that.

The problem: the scene confuses the issue of consent and rape, normalizing “date rape” to a target audience most likely to engage in those acts. The joke is not without consequences. According to professor Thomas E. Ford’s (a professor of psychology and researcher at Western Carolina University) research on sexist language and humor, “The acceptance of sexist humor leads men to believe that sexist behavior falls within the bounds of social acceptability.” Ultimately, jokes about date rape make the act more socially acceptable. When the role of the “rapist” is played by such a well-liked comedic actor like Seth Rogen, it can be difficult for the audience to understand the other side of the story. Rape isn’t supposed to be funny, and when it is portrayed in a comedic light, well, people stop laughing. It’s just not funny.