Zack and Miri
Make a Porno

Unlike those wimps on TV, I can use the entire title because this is the internet, and 8-year old boys are used to seeing that kind of language on the internet.

Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks star as Zack and Miri – two lifelong pals living in Monroeville, PA and struggling to get by financially. More to the point, the rent is due, they haven’t paid any of their other bills and the water and electricity are getting shut off.

Instead of approaching this problem like most of us would by picking up some extra hours at work or maybe taking a second job, Zack and Miri are looking for more of a big, quick score, so they decide to go where few of us would be wiling to go (especially if it meant going there with Seth Rogan). They decide to make their own porno movie, and hope to sell it.


Will these two slackers be able to produce the movie and sell it?

Will the friendship be able to handle the pressure of having sex together on camera for everyone to see?

Will Elizabeth Banks, Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan’s prom date start a support group and trade horror stories about having Seth Rogan on top of them?

Many will say writer/director Kevin Smith is trying to borrow from the Judd Apatow bag of tricks, but the mixture of silly/crass/sweet is one Smith has used before with success. In the case of Zack and Miri Make a Porno, it’s not wild undeniable success, but Smith makes you laugh, and that’s the whole point. With enough porno scenes, language and more to border on an NC-17 rating, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is filthy, crass and funny for those who are not easily offended.

Smith really should have stuck with the funny stuff. The movie’s high points are the silliness of the whole exercise as Smith makes the casting, writing and production of the “movie” as ridiculous as possible. It’s not stupid funny. It’s not smart funny either, but Smith and the crew seem to relish in the absurd, which makes it enjoyable for the entire audience (at least, the ones who are willing to stay after the porno shoot begins).

Zack and Miri Make a Porno also gives us an opportunity to take pleasure in watching Banks prove she is the best and funniest actor on screen in any scene in which she appears (and you get to ogle her along the way, and that ain’t bad either). Sure, Rogan is a hilarious guy with the perfect voice and expressions to make him a fine comic actor, and one I would put in any movie I was making if I was a director or producer, but Banks has something undefinable and special that makes her shine.

Unfortunately, Zack and Miri Make a Porno misses when Smith tries to impose a sweet love story you can see coming from miles away (and predict with pinpoint precision if you have ever seen more than one romantic comedy in your life) and, let’s be honest, Smith doesn’t present any groundbreaking scenes or dialogue. You can say Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a funny movie, but not a memorable one or one you will watch over and over and over again.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno is Rated R for strong crude sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity and pervasive language.