Zack and Miri Make a Porno, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogan, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes
Running Time: 102 minutes
Score: 9 /10

This review by Alex Billington.

To say I enjoyed Zack and Miri Make a Porno would be inaccurate. I loved it, every last second, right down to the mushy story about love and relationships that Kevin Smith gets to in the end. It's hilarious, it's saturated with sex, and it's charming, too. To be honest, I think Kevin Smith has actually taken a gigantic step forward, away from his previous films like Clerks and Dogma, and ventured into new comedic territory that used to only be reserved for Judd Apatow. I thought Seth Rogen might not be able to keep up his consistently strong comedic performances, but he's outdone himself and even topped Pineapple Express this time. Zack and Miri isn't exactly as reflective as Clerks II, but it's definitely sweeter.

If you haven't figured out what the film is about simply from the title, then I don't think I should be explaining it to you anyway. Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are lifelong best friends who have never been anything more than just that. The two have been roommates for years but haven't really progressed in life, so when they run out of money for water and electricity, they decide to shoot a porno together in order to make some quick cash. Borrowing funds from a fellow co-worker (Craig Robinson), the two scoop up other wanna-be pornstars and get down-n-dirty. But as anyone might expect, for these two friends, fucking is more than just a way to make money. Remarkably, Rogen and Banks have perfect chemistry and feel like true life-long friends captured on camera.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno is easily one of the best comedies I've seen in a long-time. Thanks to Kevin Smith, it's so easy to get into and so easy to laugh at, making it one of the lest challenging films to simply sit back and enjoy, which is a delight here in Toronto. I don't care that Elizabeth Banks never showed her tits because she's a respectable actor or that we otherwise literally got a full on Jason Mewes-on-Katie Morgan porno, because I was able to simply enjoy the enduring story that Smith put together himself. And I don't care that Seth Rogen doesn't become a hit porno producer in the end (don't worry it's not a spoiler) because the story told within this 102 minutes was thoroughly entertaining anyway.

I'm anxious to see Zack and Miri again, but not for the typical reasons. I think there is something new to gain every time and I want to see how much I missed by laughing so much. Kevin Smith's brilliance shines through yet again in Zack and Miri and Rogen and Banks, in addition to a hilarious ensemble lead by Craig Robinson, pull off wonderfully amusing performances. Zack and Miri is a comedy that will not even come close to letting anyone down. Instead, it's an instant hit that has so much more to offer than just cheap laughs.

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