Zack and Miri make a mediocre movie

Zack and Miri Make A Porno
Rated R for: strong crude sexual content, graphic nudity and pervasive language
Running Time: 1 hr, 41 min
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson

Rating (out of four):



Make no mistake about it: Kevin Smith is a funny dude. Just watch either of his Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs, in which the filmmaker stood in front of a crowd of college students for two hours and did what was essentially a Q&A session, and you'll see what I mean. The guy is smart, down to earth and, most importantly, funny. Really funny.

The problem with Kevin Smith is, that humor doesn't always translate to his films. Thus is the problem with his latest, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, in which Smith seems almost like he's trying to mimic the Judd Apatow school of comedy (in reality, it's probably the other way around) but, for the most part, fails.

Smith mistakes raunch and sex for comedy, which can be great in the hands of a filmmaker who really knows how to utilize the subjects well (see the aforementioned Apatow), but when done wrong, it can go south rather quickly (no pun intended).

Now, to be fair, I've only seen a few Kevin Smith movies. One of them I liked (Chasing Amy), the other two I didn't (Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). So I can't really attest to his other three films.

Zack (Seth Rogen) is a twentysomething schlub working at a coffee place that resembles your typical Starbucks. He and his roommate and best friend Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are in dire straits: They can't make the rent or pay the bills on their rundown house, and it looks like they might end up homeless. Things are so bad, in fact, that as the movie begins, the water gets shut off to their place, right as Miri is taking a shower.

Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places, and in this case in comes in the form of a gay porn actor at Zack and Miri's high school reunion. After striking up a conversation with Brandon (Justin Long) and finding out he's in gay porn, Zack has a revelation: If he makes an amateur porn film, maybe enough people at his reunion will be morbidly curious and buy it, earning him enough money to save his house.

He convinces his friend and fellow barista Delany (a very funny Craig Robinson, a veteran of Apatow's films and Darrl on The Office) to spot him the money and become a producer on the film.




With a group of inept friends as his crew and amateurs as his cast, Zack sets out to make his adult film debut. The centerpiece of that debut: A sex scene between himself and Miri, who have never done anything with each other. This, of course, leads to apprehension and, ultimately, complications. As the moment of truth nears, the question lingers in the air: What will become of their friendship once this is over? Will there even be a friendship left?

Thus is the driving force behind the real story here, which is the friendship between Zack and Miri. It's also the heart of the film, and, to Smith's credit, he doesn't milk it as much as he can, driving it into overly sentimental territory.

The problem with the film isn't the friendship and subsequent dramatic tension that ensues. The problem is that the movie just plain isn't very funny. Yes, there are funny moments, and quite a few of them. However, the funny moments are, oddly enough, at the beginning and the end of the film, leaving most of the middle filled with joke after joke that falls flat. As I mentioned earlier in the review, raunchy jokes can be very funny if done right, but in this case they weren't. I found myself spending a decent amount of the movie not laughing. The story does (for the most part) keep your interest the whole way, and the payoff is more than satisfying, but it takes quite awhile to get there, and I'm not sure it's really worth it in the end.

Zack and Miri isn't a bad way to kill a couple of hours if you have nothing better to do, and it's probably worth a viewing on DVD, at the very least. But it's not worth rushing out to see.