Zach and Miri let it all hang out in new comedy

By Faheem Ahmed     10/30/08 7:00pm

Kevin Smith, director of cult classics like Clerks, Mall Rats and Chasing Amy, is notorious for his love of filthy dialogue, filthy sex and poignant romances . er, filthy poignant romances. His new comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, contains all of the above and then some.As a thriving industry earning billions of dollars each year, pornography has played a large role in determining which forms of video technology will become popular. Mainstream porn picked VHS tapes to replace Beta, DVD to replace VHS and has just chosen Blu-ray to overtake HD.

With the growth and prevalence of the Internet, the porn industry has exploded. Reality and amateur porn are now so popular that anyone with a camera and a laptop can make a profit. When Zack (Pineapple Express' Seth Rogen) and Miri (The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Elizabeth Banks) can no longer pay their water or electricity bills, they do exactly that.

Rogen and Banks play lifelong friends and roommates in a classic case of two underachievers who have spent their whole lives working at the same coffee shop. After attending their 10-year high school reunion, they realize they have done nothing substantive with their lives.

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Rogen proposes to make a porno, and Banks reluctantly jumps on board the production of Star Whores (a revision of the George Lucas classic, complete with light-dildos). They recruit Delaney, played by Craig Robinson (Darryl in "The Office"), to produce, Lester, played by Jason Mewes (Clerks's Jay) to be the lead male and Deacon, played by Jeff Anderson (Clerks's Randal), to film the amateur project.

The movie also features hilarious cameos: Justin Long (Dodgeball)drops some hilarious lines as a gay porn star at the high school reunion, and Traci Lords, made famous for her real-life career as an underage porn actress, has a unique talent better left undescribed.

I was definitely curious to see how the comedy team of Rogen, Banks and Robinson would mesh with Kevin Smith's crew of Mewes and Anderson, and while the result was a bit uneven, it was still hilarious. As usual, Rogen plays the fat, average underachiever who has loads of potential but does not know how to use it. His one-liners and delivery of long, detailed sex descriptions are spot-on. Banks also holds her own as Miri, an honest girl with low self-esteem and an infectious laugh.

The platonic relationship between the two roommates is convincing. Viewers will have a tough time finding the chemistry, though, when Rogen and Banks start realizing they love each other. Instead of making a love story with a porno, Smith seems to have attempted a porno with a love story, and the two don't mix very well. Love between two best friends is contrived; having them fall in love while making a porno is a bit more original, but Smith does not devote any time to developing this on-screen. Plus, gorgeous Miri would never fall for oafish Zack in real life (but hey, that's what movies are for).

The performer who clearly steals the show is Robinson. In both of these previous roles, Robinson displays the uncanny ability to take the smallest part, and make it the most funny and memorable part of the movie. Robinson plays Delaney, Rogen's best friend and financier of Star Whores. He infuses Delaney with such subtlety that it perfectly complements Rogen's outspoken performance.

A Zack and Miri audience should expect mixed reactions, as they'll find themselves exploding with laughter, groaning in disgust and laughing while groaning in disgust. Smith never holds anything back, to the regret of the MPAA, and delivers a comedy for a slightly older audience. Despite the slowness of the last 15 minutes and the forced love story, I recommend taking a loved one or a best friend you're secretly in love with to this movie in hopes of inspiration.

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