Zack and Miri Make A Porno

Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have been friends for a long time. They now live from paycheck to paycheck together in a small apartment in Monroeville, PA. Financially irresponsible they have their power and water turned off on the same day. They have recently attended their ten year high school reunion and there met a gay porn star. This gives Zack the idea that they should make an amateur porn movie starring themselves and a cadre of local strippers and enthusiastic actors.

If ever there was a movie with multiple personality disorder it is this one. There is no doubt that you are watching a Kevin Smith movie because large segments of the film are raunchy. Swearing, sex and one bit of scatological joke that could have gone unseen by me. It also happens to have a rather sweet side to it. The sincere connection between Zack and Miri is in classic romantic comedy style and has classic rom-com plot development. Rogen is of course always a good choice for that lovable loser role and Banks despite her beauty pulls off a very cool, normal woman vibe (i.e. you could believe she would fall for a lovable loser like Zack).

Smith's previous attempt at sentimentality (Jersey Girl) fell to far into the sappy mode. I think Smith has missed his mark here again by relying a bit too much on his trade mark crudeness. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy the film. Which I sort of did. The crude parts made me laugh on more than one occasion and the sweet romance was endearing. The problem was the two don't really fit together very well. And yes I do think there is a composition that works (e.g. 40 Year Old Virgin). Clearly there is some drive by Smith to find the perfect mix and he does seem to be getting closer and perhaps his next attempt will succeed (sadly he'll probably return to a Mallrats 2 in the interim).

If I seem indifferent or confused on the film, I think it wholly a result of the fact that the film falls short of the sum of its parts. There is also a small part starring the current Superman and fellow Iowa native Brandon Routh. He plays a former classmate of Zack and Miri who is now involved with Justin Long's gay pornstar. Basically these scenes involve Long being flamboyant and crude while Routh tries to keep from laughing. It has nothing to do with liking or disliking the movie, I just felt like mentioning it. In the end it was okay.