Star and writer Seth Rogen and producer Judd Apatow had hits with the coarse buddy comedies Knocked Up and Superbad. The films followed the same formula - abandon good taste in favour of vulgar humour and splendidly silly slapstick. Add a drugs element to drive the comedy - most of the major protagonists are stoners or high - and the result is disgracefully funny if ethically deplorable. Here, Rogen is at his guffawing idiotic best as Dale, a server of legal documents (he happily delivers a subpoena to a surgeon in mid-operation).

After witnessing the murder of an opposing drug dealer by a crooked cop Rosie Perez and the city's most dangerous druglord Ted Jones (Gary Cole), he is forced to go on the run, along with his reluctant dealer Saul (James Franco).

This time Rogen and Apatow, along with co-writer Evan Goldberg, have advanced from the teenage depredations of Superbad and the angst of accidental fatherhood in Knocked Up to add a helping of action, shootouts, car chases and hand-to-hand fighting in a mad movie which left me laughing loud and often, but drenched in guilt for doing so.