Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
Since I don’t really make money with reviewing movies, I could take up a new profession.
When longtime platonic friends Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) find themselves in financial hot water, they hit upon the idea of making an adult film with amateur actors — including themselves — to bring in easy money. But when “action” is called, they discover their unspoken feelings for each other might threaten the whole enterprise.
As many people know, Kevin Smith is a favorite of mine and really does knock it out of the park with almost everything he does, despite Cop Out.
This film is exactly what Smith is good with: dirty and jokes about the human body. Smith is basically a little kid when it comes to potty humor but here, it all works so well because he just has a knack for them. This is a gross-out film because there are plenty of boobs, ass, and even dick shots, but there are so many gut-busting laughs here, that you may just totally forget your watching one of the dirtiest films of all-time, even though it is Kevin Smith, and what else would you expect really.
My main problem with this film though is that it’s overall sweetness will actually attract some viewers, but to me, I didn’t like this. There are some good points about friendship and love here, but nothing we haven’t seen before, and I know Smith can do better. Instead, there is just one corny line after another, with the most god-awful predictable romantic lines you could ever think of. I did like how Smith at least made this film sweeter than most would probably expect, but it was just bad romantic writing.
I think Smith thought to himself: “You know who’s making funny comedies? Judd Apatow.”, and thus he took almost every single actor from those films but they all work well with Smith’s trademark juvenile humor. Seth Rogen is always likable, and there is no difference here with his performance as Zack. Elizabeth Banks is also very good as Miri, although we still didn’t get to see her naked, which I probably think half of the audience that went to go see this, was expecting her to show a little ta-ta action. These two in the film are supposed to be best friends, and because their chemistry is so good together, I actually bought it, and worked well for the film in the end. The rest of the supporting cast here is hilarious too such as Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson, and Katie Morgan. Let’s also not forget the two hilarious cameo’s from Justin Long and Brandon Routh, that will have you laughing way long after their even gone from the film.
Consensus: Zack and Miri Make a Porno is a heavy rated-R film that is rude, crude, and disgusting but genuinely funny thanks to Smith’s always hilarious potty humor, and a likable cast.
8/10=Matinee!!
P.S. I’ll be gone this Memorial Day weekend, cause I’ll be down the beach and there’s no internet down there. So this will be my last review until Tuesday hopefully, but enjoy this and enjoy your weekend everybody!
Peace
I will give you that this one was a crude, rude piece of work, but it didn’t work for me. I’m normally a fan of Kevin Smith flicks, but I found this one to be particularly heavy-handed and even stunningly pretentious at places. I didn’t like the characters in the least and thought that it fell too easily into the typical rom-com trappings at the end. Too tidy, surprisingly.
Ah well. Cool review though, dude.
I liked the raunchy humor and the characters, and although it’s not Smith’s best work, I still had a lot of laughs with this. Thanks anyway though man!
my god, this movie was terrible. it tried so hard to be mediocre and it wasn’t even that.
the beginning was okay but it just fell completely off after that. no bueno.
Well I liked it, but I can see where you’re coming from.
The wife and child are going away next week for a holiday, so this (along with Paranormal Activity) are on the “must watch” list for me….. WOOO…
But I’ve heard this film is pretty crappy, so I’m reserving my expectations until I’ve seen it.
It has mixed reviews on a lot of sites, but if you like a lot of Smith’s other films, you may just possibly enjoy this one as well.
Not Smith’s best, but I still really enjoy it. I agree with pretty much everything you said, though I think the love angle worked a little better for me than for you.
The love angle was kind of cheesy but I didn’t hate the film because of that.
I’ve heard Smith pretty much acknowledge that in retrospect, ZACK AND MIRI feels like he was trying to hard to make an Apatow film. Still, I really enjoy the flick, especially the first two thirds, which are hilarious (Justin Long steals the entire movie). The last third does get a bit overly sentimental, and the whole “this movie still needs an ending” stuff was rather cringe worthy. But the after the credits commercial for “Zack and Miri Make Your Porno” more than makes up for it!
The after-credits stuff was hilarious, and I do have to say that the last act started to drag on a bit and really did get too cheesy. Still good movie none the less.
It was a slightly above average crude comedy. Never was much of a fan of Kevin Smith’s work.
It’s a good film but not Smith’s best.
I’m in the consensus that this isn’t Smith’s best work, but it was good for some laughs. I agree that it got a little heavy handed at points, and it was incredibly forgettable. I watched it not too long ago, and I can barely remember any of the plot points (aside from the ending). Oh well. Great review.
The film had its moments of hilarity, but altogether nothing special and the end comes together too neatly. Still good movie, and thank you!
Not the slightest bit interested in this.
Sorry to hear man!
I had problems with this film – not the biggest fan of Kevin Smith – though I do respect his newest film ploy.
Good review Dan!
He’s a great writer if you like that type of humor. Thanks man!
Was it childish? Yeah, but it still made me laugh harder than almost anything at the theatres that year.
Very true, when I saw this, I laughed my ass off big-time.
This one didn’t work for me. Elizabeth Banks is great but I felt this was one of Smith’s worst films. I really didn’t find it funny.
I laughed a lot during this one and Banks and Rogen both do great jobs here.