ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Overview

The comedy movie from writer-director Kevin Smith, the Zack of the title is Seth Rogen, playing much the same cheery, out-of-shape slacker as he did into Knocked Up, only without the pot-smoking. The Miri of the title is Elizabeth Banks, who's considerably less out of shape, but no less cheery.

They were best friends who have shared a residence since they were at high school, but have never contemplated sleeping together. They both have jobs, but for some unidentified reason they suddenly find that they can't afford to pay their rent, so Rogen has a brainwave: they'll borrow some cash from their friends and family. Actually, no, that's not his brainwave. His brainwave is that they'll video themselves having sex, and then trade the tape to everyone they went to school with. For some other unknown reason, they persuade several acquaintances and professional strippers to join into. The question is, can they get bodily without compromising their friendship?

I would have thought that creating a DIY porn movie might have more troubling ramifications than making you realise you fancy your flatmate. But Zack and Miri Make a Porno goes directly down a well-worn romantic comedy route, however filthy the dialogue might be. Nude scenes and four-letter words notwithstanding, it have got less gritty realism than the average Doris Day vehicle. For instance, Rogen is only semi-competent as a porn director, and yet Banks starts cooing as if she's seeing a whole new artistic side to him, that just goes to show how standards are slipping. Into Knocked Up, he had to get a day job and his own apartment before an exquisite blonde fell for him. Here, all he has to do is point a video camera at a pole dancer, and he's surrounded by new friends, thanking him for opening "a world of possibilities". Yep, sex into front of strangers now counts as "a world of possibilities" (Cowan & Dunn 2008).

Analysis

Seth Rogen plays Zack and Elizabeth Banks plays Miri, two best friends living into a crummy little apartment into Pittsburgh. The bills are stacking up , the heat and electricity have been turned off and they're about to be terrified out on their ass. What do two harassed thirty-somethings do? While crashing their High School reunion, they discover that the school's former Quarterback (Superman Return's Brandon Routh) is actually gay and the boyfriend of gay porn star Brandon (Justin Long) (Cowan & Dunn 2008). This gives Zack an idea and after ruminating over it for a night, he and Miri both settle on that a cheap porno is the only way to solve their money woes. They enlist the help of Zack's coffee shop co-worker Delaney (Craig Robinson) to be producer and also bring on a rag tag team of actors (Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan, and Ricky Mabe), first to shoot the movie "Star Whores" with such characters as ...