Movie Review: Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, and Katie Morgan. Directed by Kevin Smith.

Was this movie anything more than the chance to shoot a faux porno with Jason Mewes getting the most action with porn star Katie Morgan? Or letting Mewes walk around naked? Or just having Traci Lords on set for back-alley cred?

"Zack and Miri" is a movie about lifelong friends Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks), two friends who have lived around each other growing up in Monroeville and now live together in an apartment. Miri works at the Mall while Zack works at the local coffeeshop Bean 'N Gone. When the bills pile up too high and their water and electricity are shut off, they come up with a sure-fire way to make money: make a porno. From auditions to borrowing money to their location and equipment being destroyed, this film crew experiences it all. More complications arrive when Zack and Miri eventually discover their true feelings for each other.

How is the movie on a basic level? It's okay. I agree with one reviewer who said, "Only Kevin Smith can make the making of a porno boring..." What kind of porno is being made where the films two main stars, Rogen and Banks, don't get naked? Again, outside of Morgan and Mewes "getting' it on," there's nothing to see here except the "love story."

And that's really what Smith is all about. "Clerks" was about a slacker convenience store guy and his girlfriend problems. "Mallrats" was about a slacker whose girlfriend worked at the mall and who was about to lose his girlfriend to another mall manager. "Chasing Amy" was about a comic book guy who falls in love with a lesbian. "Dogma" was about a woman who has given up on love and must stop two angels from destroying the Earth (okay, not his common fare...) "Jersey Girl" was about a guy who lost his wife due to childbirth, loses his job, and must not take care of his daughter. He eventually finds love with Liv Tyler. "Clerks II" finds the convenience store burnt to a crips, forcing the slackers to sell-out to hamburger food-chain Mooby's, while Dante is about to get married but is falling for his female co-worker Becky.

See? A chronology of "love stories."

To get back to the review... The movie was okay. It begins with about 30 minutes of all the characters dishing out trash dialog just for effect. Tarantino, Smith is not. While there are funny parts here and there the majority of the movie goes through the motions, feeling like a throwback to an Eighties rom-com. Rogen and Banks do a good job with the material given to them but everyone else in the cast seems to be sitting around, chewing the scenery. Watching a movie about making a movie shouldn't feel like sitting around, waiting and watching a movie being made.

And how can you have a movie with Traci Lords just standing around, and maybe giving that one sorta "insightful" piece of dialog? That would be like having Shannon Tweed read a teleprompter while shooting a commercial for male-pattern baldness.

I could go on about Kevin Smith, asking if he's even relevant anymore but I'll save that discussion for another time. Smith claims that without Rogen the movie wouldn't have been made, but I think the movie was made more for Jason Mewes to be with a porn star than anything.

My grade: C