With a whopper of a title like Zack and Miri Make a Porno, is this movie going to be for everybody? No, probably not, but this is most definitely a film for fans of Kevin Smith. He knows what his fans want and he gives it to them, but with a extra helping of sweetness that one might not expect.
Zack and Miri are best friends and roommates, but their relationship is purely platonic and they haven't taken it further than that. But after some severe cash flow problems they decide to do something sure to make them some quick cash, and if you can’t guess what that something is you obviously haven’t paid very close attention to the title.
It seems that over the last few years Kevin Smith has taken a break from filmmaking. With his output decreased, it's no wonder that another filmmaker working in the same comedic vein would muscle in on his turf. That filmmaker, of course, is Judd Apatow, the man behind such hits as Knocked Up and Superbad. Well, Smith, it seems, has decided to remind Apatow who's boss with Zack and Miri. Only someone as sharply crude as Kevin Smith would dream of making such a film, especially with a title so blatant. It’s not as memorable as most of Smith’s other work, nor does it flow as well, but it’s still damn funny.
For a good two-thirds of the running time you get exactly what you’d expect from a Kevin Smith comedy: it’s crude, outrageous and sometimes downright shocking (see the donkey show scene from Clerks II as a parallel), and it’s here where the strengths of Zack and Miri lie. As the title suggests there is plenty of very adult humor, and in it’s in that way that the film instantly ceases to have wide appeal. If anyone happens to end up unwittingly in a theatre where this is playing (although how you wouldn’t know what you were getting into from the title I’m not sure) they'll most likely be offended. But Smith isn’t interested in pleasing everybody; he knows his fanbase and he plays to them. Fans of past Smith fare like Clerks or Dogma will lap this film up and ask for seconds.
Seth Rogen - a regular star in films by the aforementioned Judd Apatow - plays one of the lead roles here. He's a hot name at the moment and it seems like he’s in every comedy going these days. And since crude humor is a shared trait between Apatow and Smith, it makes sense for Rogen to jump ship to see how well he fits in with the Smith world. He absolutely succeeds, even if it’s still not working having him in a leading role. One of the reasons Knocked Up faltered is that Rogen just didn’t fit right as a leading man; I find that he works infinitely better as a supporting character where he truly shines. Both Knocked Up and Zack and Miri (oh, and let’s not forget Pineapple Express) make me fear it will never click with him.
Article comments
1 - Arlo J. Wiley
I've gotta say, I totally disagree on Seth Rogen. I think he's a completely capable leading man; he's never not hilarious. I also thought his chemistry with Elizabeth Banks is what made the movie.
So even though we both liked it, it seems we liked it for different reasons.