Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan, Brandon Routh, Justin Long
Running Time: 101 min.
Rating: R

*** (out of ****)

So, I’m sitting there watching Zack and Miri Make a Porno and laughing a lot, like I do most Kevin Smith films, until I realized about 40 minutes in, “Oh, it’s about THAT.” I kind of suspected the direction it was going but didn’t think he had a chance at pulling it off. Smith cranks out so many smart comedies that I’m starting to think that maybe we’ve taken for granted just how good he is. When he’s given good actors he’s even better and someone should start a petition to have Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks (who both had one hell of an ’08) to star in every studio comedy, as if they aren’t already.

With the casting of Rogen, Smith bravely opens himself up to criticism that he’s trying to tap into the Judd Apatow brand of comedy and steal a slice of his box office, but what can’t go overlooked is that he was writing and directing Apatow films long before Apatow was. He invented the R-rated raunchy comedy with heart and it’s ironic, given the subject matter and the battle he waged to have it released, that Zack and Miri feels like his most mainstream picture.

The best news is it’ll at least go down as a creative success even if it didn’t hit the commercial pay dirt it deserved. The reason it works is because it is a Smith movie through and through and he does one of his most interesting jobs slyly covering that up. It settles into a more standard, predictable rom-com groove in the final act but Smith even pulls that off pretty well. Thanks to his writing and awesome performances from the two leads, it’s a great time and delivers everything we’ve come to expect from his pictures. Just about the only difference is that its set in Pennsylvania instead of Jersey.

Lifelong platonic best friends and roomates Zack Brown (Rogen) and Miriam “Miri” Linky (Banks) are broke, unable to make rent and suffering without water or electricity. Unless they think of a plan soon they’ll be out on the street since Zack’s job as a barista at a Starbucks-like chain isn’t getting it done. After an awkward and hilarious encounter at their high school reunion with Miri’s longtime crush, Bobby Long (Brandon Routh!?) and his gay porn actor boyfriend Brandon St. Randy (a hilarious Justin Long) Zack gets the crazy idea to film and distribute a porno to pull them out of debt. He calls on favors from some of his friends to help get it done, which ends up being a bizarre combination of veteran Smith and Apatow players as well as some real life porn stars thrown in for authenticity.

Pineapple Express’ Craig Robinson is Zack’s coffee shop co-worker, henpecked at home by his wife and misinterpreting a customer’s order for their coffee “black” as a racial slur. As “producer” of this endeavor he has the tough job of auditioning women for the roles while Zack enlists his hockey buddy (Clerks’ Jeff Anderson) to film it. They hire their actresses (adult film stars Traci Lords and Katie Morgan) and find a nutjob (Jason Mewes) with a special talent as one of the male leads. Full of Smith’s trademark vulgar humor throughout, the film takes a more earnest turn later on.

Of Smith’s films, this is probably his most mature, technically put together effort thus far and a sign that he tried to step out of his comfort zone just a little despite the material he was dealing with. What works best is the fact that you really believe that Zack and Miri were best friends their entire lives. So much so that the idea of a prequel exploring their misadventures in high school wouldn’t seem like such a bad idea after witnessing the hilarious reunion scenes. The gross-out, vulgar humor you typically expect from Smith is on full display for much of the running time and even though I expected this to be more than about just making a porno I was kind of surprised just how much more there was besides that and how well it was executed. In a rather believable way making a porno brings something out of Zack and Miri that they weren’t aware they had and forces them to view each other in a different light.

Many viewers had problems buying Seth Rogen “knocking up” Katherine Heigl. With enough drinks anything is possible but where I started to have problems with credibility was when the two actually attempted to a have a real relationship. It’s hard to root for characters who not only can’t stand one another, but try to make things work only out of a sense of obligation. That movie lost me right about there. Thankfully this one doesn’t make similar mistakes and by starting Zack and Miri off as friends Rogen and Banks are able to cultivate an easygoing chemistry together that makes what comes later much more believable and rewarding.

None of this would click like it does if Banks wasn’t the female lead since we know Rogen is an old pro at playing this type of slacker role. She really had to deliver the goods to convince us that Miri could fall for someone who besides being a schlubby loser, is stuck in the “best friend” zone. But she pulls it off and so easily keeps up with the vulgar humor of the guys that we’d also believe that Zack would have problems seeing her as more than a friend. This role was originally written for Clerks 2’s Rosario Dawson who dropped out so she could star in…Eagle Eye. The less said about that choice the better. As awesome as Dawson is it’s tough to imagine her bringing anything to the table that Banks didn’t.

Also credit Smith as a writer for noticing that a meaningful relationship would translate to terrible porn. It may be the only kind of acting that requires a complete absence of real feelings to be most effective. People watch porn to seeing two people going at it like animals, not making love. As much as Zack and Miri try to leave their lifelong friendship at the door and attempt to convince each other this won’t change anything, it’s a lost cause. That detail is what I liked most about the film and in many ways represents the humanity that’s prevalent in all of Smith’s work. It’s also a real treat to see his usual View Askewniverse players like Mewes and Anderson in roles other than Jay and Randall for a change.

No, it isn’t Shakespeare, but it does take talent to mine real feelings out of a subject matter this crude and shallow. With all his commercial success, Apatow’s creative expertise in this area of comic pathos has been mixed. Smith’s never was. Zack and Miri curiously doesn’t amount to all that much when it’s over, but that's okay. It goes down like a quick, fast food meal that has you hungry again within an hour. That could be because of the rushed (and somewhat forced) false crisis that occurs in the third act that’s become a trademark of every romantic comedy for the past twenty years. It feels somewhat fresher in Smith’s capable hands but still holds back a writer/director who I don’t believe for a second has given us his best film yet. It’s no Clerks or especially Clerks 2, but what is? And none of it is funnier than Smith’s own performance as Rick Rubin (or whoever that was) in Southland Tales, but again, how can anything be? Even when he’s essentially making a standard rom-com with vulgar wrapping around it he still outmatches most of the comedies we have out there.

It’s a shame Smith had to fight a battle to get this released under its proper title, edit it tirelessly to avoid the dreaded NC-17 designation, just to see it flop because the studio wouldn’t back it. I’m convinced if this were the late ‘90’s this film would get a massive release and a huge promotional push. When did we get so uptight? And yet again, the MPAA proves that they seem to have no problems showing graphic violence and torture just so long as no one’s having sex during it. After the burnout of Oscar season this was just the kind of movie I felt like seeing right now and a healthy reminder that we see movies primarily just to be entertained. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it really is. And Smith has always been one of the few filmmakers consistently able to give it to us with no strings attached.