Kevin Smith’s “Zack and Miri Make A Porno” is pretty much everything you’ve already heard. It’s probably the directorially-challenged filmmaker’s sweetest movie and perhaps his most vulgar, but that latter part might be debatable (we didn’t see “Clerks 2” and we’re not sure we’ll bother).And considering all we heard about the vulgarity, the film is rather tame (aside from one, ahem *chocolate* scene that’s indubitably gross).
That’s not to say it’s a fantastic film. Is it the best thing he’s ever done? Probably since “Chasing Amy,” his most tolerable film. But does that mean a ton? Not really. ‘Zack and Miri’ is cute, funny, and mostly charming and winning. Smith doesn’t really know how to do more than turn on a camera in front of semi-respectable actors and say action, but we suppose his films don’t really ask for much more.
Thankfully not part of Smith’s annoying “View Askew universe,” thank god for Elizabeth Banks though, Seth Rogen is decent, but she’s the one that really sells home all the much-needed emotional notes to keep the story believable. Aping the Judd Apatow cast (and balls and heart mien) doesn’t hurt either. Craig Robinson is really funny and even the Indian actor from “The 40 Year Old Virgin” (Gerry Bednob) small cameo helps brings laughs.
We didn’t love it as much as everyone we saw it with (who seemed to eat it up like it was a Sundae), but it was enjoyable. If you need to hear the “plot,” it’s basically that life-long friends and roommates (Rogen and Banks) are strapped for cash and so desperate is their plight (they have no gas or heat!) the duo come up with the preposterous plan to make a porno, cause there’s always money in that, right?
But what about the business of fucking each other? Well, it won’t mean anything cause it’s just sex, right? The industrious Rogen collects a motley crue of boobs to help him out (Robinson, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords and Jason Mewes) and the group starts to clandestinely shoot porn in the coffee shop he works in. Complication arise when Rogen and Banks finally do it and heck, emotions get in the way. On paper, ‘Porno,’ sounds incredibly trite and simple(ton-esque), but it’s a testament to the entirety of the film that it works.
“Zack And Miri” is no masterpiece. The filmmaking-challenged Kevin Smith will never likely make one in his lifetime, but he is improving and slowly getting better with each film. There’s tender, sweet beats in this film that rise about the cheesy, sentimental gook that was the end of”Jersey Girl” (while trying sweetness was admirable attempt on his part at the time, the tones went completely awry and into the fromage zone). ‘Porno’ is funny, but its strengths rely in its ability to reveal some true emotion, rather than its comedy (which does provide laughs, but if you pointed a gun at our head to remember one line…though Justin Long and Brandon Routh’s cameos are pretty hilarious).
Smith’s constituents will gleefully eat up ‘Porno’ like an asshole full of Star Wars toys, and his detractors may shrug a little, but it’s too endearing to hate on and not a modest and bad little film either. [B]
We saw Smith talk after the film if you’re interested and he discussed his next potential project “Red State.” Here’s another short piece of video we uploaded with Smith. We should eventually put them all up. It does little to effect the film, but man the guy who did the score to ‘Porno’ is terrible. It was like a score to a bad TV sitcom. Smith needs to fire that dude, asap. One less thing for people to hold against you.