Zack and Miri Make a Porno [18]

The fuzzy Seth Rogen and the lovely Elizabeth Banks play the titular best mates in this latest Kevin Smith project, about a supposedly platonic friendship which grows into something more when the pair hit dire straits and are forced to make a porno to make ends meet. As you do. Enter Traci Lords and Jason Mewes (of Jay and Silent Bob), which must surely be the source of the latter's dirtiest dreams. From this brief precis you're correct to assume that this movie is a bit silly, a bit childish, and well, a bit rude. I'm not going to pretend it's a masterpiece, but I'll certainly argue that it's entertaining enough fare.

To enjoy this movie you'd have to like Kevin Smith movies generally - I do, so had no reservations about forgiving some of Zack and Miri's weaknesses. Kevin Smith's stoner humour is known for wandering into shall we say, scatological territory, and this movie is no different. The comedy doesn't always come off and there are moments which could surely only ever appeal to aa particularly dim teenage boy's sense of humour. The script wasn't as sharp as his previous efforts either (although it was better than Jersey Girl for what it's worth), so I'd say that the success of Zack and Miri is definitely down to ability of its two leads to get the audience on side. Kevin Smith is still stuck in the 90s but Rogen's presence gave the whole thing a more youthful and up to date feel. His likeable persona also enabled the audience to shrug off any reservations about bad taste as you could warm to him more than the likes of previous Smith stalwarts, who never really seemed to actually like the women they slept with that much. It also made the ordinary bloke getting the hot girl equation way easier to believe. Helpfully there was a believable chemistry between him and Banks: I bought that they were friends and was invested in their getting together.

The supporting cast was also strong. I loved that Smith managed to lure the ridiculously good looking Brandon Routh (of many a teenage girl's fantasies) to play a gay guy and spoof his camp Superman persona; the dialogue between him and Justin Long, who played his out and proud lover, was great stuff. The re-location of the porno shoot to the coffee shop in which Zack works also drew a smile - Smith fans will know that Clerks was actually filmed at night in the 7/11 where he worked at the time, and this fact surely wasn't lost on him when he wrote this. He's come a long way, even if the comedy is still pretty much the same ...

On the whole, I liked this latest View Askew production, which trod a sometimes not so fine line between smut and schmaltz. I'm never really sure whether Kevin Smith works at the cinema and suspect this is one to enjoy on DVD; there's something so small scale about his stories and their locales (even Dogma) which doesn't readily translate to the big screen so bear this in mind. Whilst Zack and Miri isn't as charming as Rogen's other 'rom com' Knocked Up, it's still quite sweet, albeit the kind of sweet which sees the central characters wielding dildos and discussing anal sex with alarming regularity.

Lindsey (Unverified), 27/11/08

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