Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks & Craig Robinson
Kevin Smith’s eighth film, and second not featuring his cult creations Jay & Silent Bob, is likely his most mainstream effort to date and while it sometimes lacks the bravery of some of his earlier pictures it still entertains and is very funny.
Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen make a good team. Smith has been making low-budget, ‘Indie’ comedies for 14 years now. While none of his films can make claims to being huge hits at the Box-Office, they’ve certainly garnered ample critical appraise based on Smith’s risqué yet honest dialogue filled with movie references, particularly Star Wars, whilst also capturing the thought and feelings of entire generations. Seth Rogen, with the help of director/producer Judd Apatow has done much the same as Smith only with slightly tamer material and with much greater commercial success with 40 Year Old Virgin in 2005 followed by Knocked Up, Superbad and 2008’s Pineapple Express. It comes as no surprise then that this pair should eventually collaborate on a project together.
Zack and Miri make a Porno is their first collaboration and the results are quite good and, as the title suggests, the subject matter is very risqué. Rogen plays Zack who, along with his housemate Miri (Banks) whom he has lived with for 10 years, find themselves too poor to pay their rent, their water or their electricity. With the prospects of facing homelessness they turn to an idea to make a porn film. Despite a long friendship, the pair believes they can keep things professional despite sex, and make the film that will solve their debt problems only to find that sex can indeed change a relationship.
The first half of the film is its strongest. Starting with a high school reunion where Zack and Miri face the reality that they have done much less with their lives than their classmates and featuring some scene stealing from Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Justin Long (Die Hard 4.0) as a gay couple, the film is then set up for its main plot when Zack and Miri decide to make a porn film of their own. Pulling in a few friends including Craig Robinson (Americas The Office TV series) and Jeff Anderson (Randall of Kevin Smith’s Clerks films) to produce the film and casting Traci Lords, Katie Morgan (Lords a former pornstar herself, and Morgan a current pornstar) and Kevin Smith regular Jason Mewes to act in the film they then have to decide on a plot and title, including many amusing twists on famous movie titles including Star Whores before launching into production. With dialogue laced with Smith’s trademark sex and movie references, Zack and Miri succeeds most when its characters are talking and the subject matter leads in to some hilarious scenes of sex acts and nudity including one moment when a stranger wanders into the set (a coffee shop being used out of hours) and another with Mewes involving an act referred to as the “Dutch Rudder” that ranks as one of Smith’s and Mewes’ funniest moments.
However, where Zack and Miri make a Porno disappoints is in the use of Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks in these later scenes. While Smith, Rogen and Banks, are happy to talk dirty, they all seem too afraid to actually ‘be’ as risqué which, considering the film’s title and the willingness of the supporting cast to engage in raunchy scenes is disappointing. This is especially so since not only has Smith shown he is more daring with his main stars within his earlier pictures, but also in knowing that Rogen and Banks have had much raunchier scenes, Banks in particular in 40 Year Old Virgin. However, Rogen and Banks are much more commercial now than they were then and by extension, in starring in a Kevin Smith film, they bring that level of commerciality to Zack and Miri. Perhaps all involved were a little too scared to cut as loose and brave as they had when there were less well known. Also, while Smith has shown he is willing to take more unpredictable paths with the relationships of his main characters, avoiding the usual Hollywood ending, in films like Clerks and Chasing Amy, here the path of Zack and Miri is a predictable one. This is not really a bad thing as the cast are likeable enough that the ending the film has is the one audiences want but is still a little traditional for a Kevin Smith film all the same.
Overall, there is still a lot to like and enjoy about Zack and Miri make a Porno. It is neither Smith nor Rogen’s funniest film to date but is still a solid addition to both their filmographies and future collaborations are welcome and the film also serves as better start to Kevin Smith’s non-Jay & Bob film career than 2004’s Jersey Girl. This is still a very funny film and audiences will be entertained.
Rating: 3/5
