It is hard to determine what director Kevin Smith’s intentions were when he set out to make a film that included the word ‘porno’ in its title. The term certainly contains the same level of shock value that Smith has so eagerly included in some of his previous works. From the lampooning of organized religion in Dogma to the not-so-subtle jabs at the film industry in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith has never been one to shy away from making frank observations about society’s embrace of the more sinful aspects of human nature. So, while it is understandable that Zack and Miri Make a Porno includes a healthy dose of Smith’s crass humor, one gets the feeling that the intended message of the film never becomes fully realized.
Zack (Seth Rogan) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks), two platonic high school friends, are the introduced early on as the embodiment of the lazy American. Living together and acting more like siblings than best friends (which makes the obvious sexual tension more than a little creepy), they trudge through their daily routine while lamenting everything from a lack of money to lack of sex. When the two show up for a high school reunion, they learn that the answers to their aforementioned woes may lie in adult films. As the plan to shoot their own low-budget porno slowly comes to fruition, the two discover that they don’t exactly dig the idea of watching the other have sex with someone other than them. Humor, jealousy and the obvious message about true love hiding in plain sight are all rolled out before us through Smith’s use of real-life porn actresses and a long string of f-bombs.
In short… if you are at all familiar with Kevin Smith’s previous works, you’ve seen this movie before.
Don’t get me wrong, this film isn’t entirely wasted. Smith is able to capture some brilliant performances from some of the movie’s more unlikely characters. Justin Long’s over the top portrayal of male adult film star ‘Brandon’ is a definite highlight. Brandon’s onscreen partner Bobby Long is played by Brandon Routh, who appears to be attempting to stifle his laughter at Long’s performance the entire time the two are onscreen together. Also great are Jason Mewes, who appears freakishly comfortable as the adult film star ‘Lester’, and perennial View Asewniverse actor Jeff Anderson. Anderson’s role as ‘Deacon’, the cameraman of the aforementioned porno, is included in one of this movie’s foulest and most memorable moments. A hint: it involves real-life porn startlet Katie Morgan and her affinity with an, er… uncomfortable sexual position.
Fans of Kevin Smith’s previous films will undoubtedly line up to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and they likely won’t be disappointed. The film certainly has its moments of shock humor, rapier-sharp dialog and even a few more digs at the Hollywood film industry. However, the movie never completely feels like it belongs in the same universe as Clerks and Mallrats, two of Smith’s most revered films. Instead, this movie more closely resembles a combination of the jokes from Clerks 2 with the romantic message of Jersey Girl. It never strives to be anything but a recycling of previous Kevin Smith films. While it certainly provides an amusing distraction, Zack and Miri Make a Porno seems like more of a lateral step in the progression of Smith’s filmmaking. Here’s hoping he’s got more tricks up his sleeve with his future projects.
On October 31, 2008, Joseph Dilworth Jr. said:
Kevin,
I totally get what you’re going for with Zack and Miri Make a Porno, I really do. The problem is, you essentially have two movies here, each with their own style, and it’s too uneven. What you’ve done is the film equivalent of those music mash-ups that are so popular with the kids nowadays. I remember back when you gave us Jersey Girl. I was really stoked to see what you would do outside the View Askewniverse. You told us you had a fantastic story, the casting was stellar (yes, even Jennifer Lopez) and you were excited to be working on a new type of film. And, you know what? Despite what the critics (who, I’m convinced, are just going to hate on you no matter what) had to ignorantly say, you delivered a great film. Truly, it was a new style for you and it showed you really know how to put a film together. You, as a director and writer, proved definitively that you had grown above the comfortable trappings of your past films and you knocked my socks off. I was fine when you announced your next film was returning to your usual tableau, mostly because I had also started to wonder what Randell and Dante were up to all these years after Clerks. Although a little disappointed that you were returning to familiar ground, I thought it would make a nice bookend to cap off the Jay and Silent Bob era.
When you first started talking about Zack and Miri your enthusiasm for the project was pretty infectious and I’ve greatly been anticipating it this whole time. Again, you were heading off in new territory and I was excited to see the result. Unfortunately, the result this time is just too uneven. It seems like you’ve taken the best parts of Jersey Girl and the best parts of Clerks II and smashed them together into one film. There is a lot about this movie I love, don’t get me wrong, but the transition between the two stories you are trying to tell is just a little too grating for me. Beneath it all, I can glimpse the brilliance of a step forward for you as a filmmaker, but you seem hesitant to make that leap. You keep falling back on being as filthy as possible, which I have no problem with, it’s just gratuitously jarring next to the semi-serious love story. Hell, you even have a Jay and Silent Bob analogue with the two kids that film and upload the “granny panties” video. You and Mewes could have easily replaced those two characters and it would not have affected the film at all. Actually, it would have been more amusing to have you and Mewes playing essentially grown versions of those two kids and not necessarily the hetero life mates.
Anyway, the reviews of Zack and Miri Make a Porno are once again in the love it or hate it camps and I’m probably the only one who’s nitpicking. And I know you’ll never read this, nor even care about my opinion, I just need to get that off my chest. I dig your films, man and, while I consider this one your weakest, it’s still tits and balls above most everything else that’s been released this year (except Changeling, have you checked that out yet?). I still trust you as a film maker and I’m on board with whatever you do next. Just trust yourself and really go for it with Red State and that sci-fi flick you keep teasing us with.
Until next time (and beyond), I remain a fan,
Joe
On October 31, 2008, Jenny said:
Ya know…I like Kevin Smith and his movies…but this movie just doesn’t seem very interesting to me at all. Maybe its cause its too like his other films like you said? Don’t know….I’d rather just watch J&SB Strike Back or even Clerks…;)
On November 3, 2008, Troll said:
I’d rather jump off a bridge…