Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri live together but struggle week to week to make ends meet and keep the bills paid. When they get their water and power cut off on the night they are stumped as to how they are going to get out from under. At the same time a viral video of Miri in her large pants (aka "granny pants") reveals that they have some weird sort of online fame already – a fame they are keen to exploit. Their plan? Well, get a group of locals together, rent a camera and get some basic sets and make themselves an amateur pornographic film. It is all business of course, but will even "performance" sex complicate Zack and Miri's relationship?

I live in a first floor flat on a busy junction in a part of Birmingham and, as well as being a cool place to be, I do get lots of direct marketing from the film posters on the buses going by within about 5m and just below my window level. This was not a particularly pleasant thing when I had to content with Rogen's goofy face every 5 minutes when this film was released – I'm not a big fan of him and I find him to be pretty one note but just happened to come along at the right time. However I was interested enough in Kevin Smith to go and check it out to see if he had managed to get better. It was no surprise (given the title) to find that he had certainly not grown up anymore because this is a film that relies heavily on crude jokes and sexual references above everything else.

This does the job for quite a while because the film is sporadically funny in a childish way. I suppose it will depend who you are because some people love this sort of thing whereas for me, it was just too obvious and forced – even if I still found it quite amusing. It wears off though because, talking of obvious and forced, the actual plot is really poor. It is not just that it is predictable (lots of films are "predictable" if you think about it) but it is more the way it trudges towards the obvious conclusion without worrying about whether or not the audience care (we don't) or if it rings true (it doesn't). The focus on crude jokes in the first half means that you don't really care about the characters and when Smith decides to go all doe-eyed in his plot then you just don't buy it and it only results in being unfunny and dull.

The cast all do the basics and there is only really one "good" performance in the film – which is from Banks. She has a natural presence which is sort of charming and she does work that well here. She isn't good enough to charm the film into being better (Rosario Dawson sort of managed it in Clerks 2) but she does reasonably well considering what is asked of her. Rogen does his usual stuff – if you like that then you will like this but for those who disliked him even once then this is more of the same. Mewes is amusing but his presence only reminds you how much funnier he was as Jay. Long is funny in his small turn and there are a couple of other good comic performances from others in the group as well.

Overall this film is just what we have sadly come to expect from Kevin Smith – a crude film that is funny but nowhere near funny enough to carry the whole film like he once did. The plot is poor and obvious but this will only irritate in the final third – up till then there are at least a hatful of crude laughs to be had if you like that sort of thing.

You definitely need an immature and dirty sense of humor to enjoy this.

Zack Brown and Miriam Linky are platonic best friends, roommates, and underachievers who've known each other since the first grade. They're both perfectly content with their below average status, until they find themselves eyeball deep in debt and facing the threat of eviction. Their solution? Make an adult video hoping that it'll provide the financial stability they so desperately need, but can their lifelong friendship survive the complication of sex? On the surface this raunchy comedy is nothing more than an outrageously vulgar, foulmouthed version of When Harry met Sally, but at its heart is a sweet, genuine, and believable analysis of the frailties prevalent in a male-female friendship. Not always uproariously funny, but easily likable with a spicy script that challenges viewers to keep track of enough sexually explicit dialogue for three films! Rogen and Banks have great chemistry. ***

I saw this movie at the opening of Fantastic Fest in Austin, with Kevin Smith live. The whole theater was roaring with laughter for at least 3/4 of the movie. If you're a fan of his films, you won't be disappointed. If you're not, get the hell on board, cause this movie is hilarious. The movie has some of his most classic scenes by far, with some great performances and spectacular lines by Justin Long, Rogen, Mewes, and Craig Robinson who steals the show. I guarantee you won't leave the theater unsatisfied. It's like Clerks 2 had sex with Dogma, and left the horrendous emotional scenes at the door, and kept the bad ass dialogue thoroughly intact.

As Jackie Treehorn laments in The Big Lebowski, pornos these days lack plot, and production values, and feelings. Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" would make Jackie quite proud.

The basic plot revolves around two friends, Zack and Miri. The two have a platonic relationship and live together. As they hit dire financial straits, Zack suggests they should make a porno and sell it to make money to pay rent, utilities, etc.

I went into this film with some hesitation. I left quite impressed. Seth Rogen proves he can convey emotion and still be funny. Elizabeth Banks provides the perfect on-screen mate for Rogen. However, I feel, as did others who saw the preview, that Craig Robinson (Darrell from The Office) steals nearly every scene he is in.

Zack and Miri heartily earns its R rating. It is easy to see how the MPAA nearly rated it NC-17. No matter the rating, I would whole-heartedly recommend this movie to anyone (with the exception of grandparents).