Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

Director:

Kevin Smith

Writer:

Kevin Smith

Stars:

Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elizabeth Banks	...	Miri
Seth Rogen	...	Zack
Craig Robinson	...	Delaney
Gerry Bednob	...	Mr. Surya
Edward Janda	...	Customer
Nicholas Lombardi	...	Teen #1
Chris Milan	...	Teen #2
Jennifer Schwalbach Smith	...	Betsy (as Jennifer Schwalbach)
Kenny Hotz	...	Zack II
Brandon Routh	...	Bobby Long
Anne Wade	...	Roxanne
Justin Long	...	Brandon
Tom Savini	...	Jenkins
Jeff Anderson	...	Deacon
Jim Norton	...	Auditioner (as Jimmy Norton)

Storyline

Zack and Miri are two lifelong platonic friends who make an adult film to pay the rent of their apartment. With their friend Delaney, the couple set out for auditionees for their porn film, but in the process of filming, they realize they feel more for each other than they had before.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | actor | reunion | coffee | coffee shop | 

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Taglines:

They Made A Movie So Naughty We Can Only Show Their Faces

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R on appeal for strong crude sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 October 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Kevin Smith Minnesota Project

Filming Locations:

Monroeville Mall - Business Route 22, Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£798,205 (UK) (14 November 2008)

Gross:

$31,452,765 (USA) (23 January 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blue Askew, Weinstein Company, The, View Askew Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kevin Smith:  [Star Wars]  The porno the gang tries to produce is called "Star Whores", a spoof of Star Wars.

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Goofs

When Zack and Miri are in the coffee shop, Miri talking about she is unwilling to sleep with a stranger. You can see a coffee pot half filled with coffee. In one of the scenes (at the end of this shot) you can see the coffee vigorously shaking, as is its just been put on the coffee stand, but the seconds both previous and after to this it's completely stable. This happens because Zack had been leaning back against the counter and when he pushes off it jars the counter slightly and disturbs the coffee in the pot.

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Quotes

Roxanne: Don't ever get married. It sucks. You stop appreciating each other and you run out of shit to talk about after the first year.

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Crazy Credits

An infomercial for "Zack and Miri Make YOUR Porno" interrupts the closing credits.

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Connections

References Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Dreaming"
Written by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein
Performed by Blondie
Courtesy of Capitol Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

View Askew and Apatow Peeps Make an Awesome Movie.

Thanks to the aptly named title, brilliantly appointed by Kevin Smith (writer, director, and creator of the View Askew Universe), you go into the film with a certain mindset, a dirty one to be exact. This follows the explicit what-you-see-is-what-you-get nature of every pornographic film title, a fact that offers hilarious moments as Zack and Miri are eventually faced with the difficult task of creating a movie title that says it all.

Yes, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is exactly that, Zack and Miri making a porno. And believe you me, there is plenty of potty mouth to go around. But as dirty as the movie is, you will be surprised and delighted to find that this is a movie with a lot of heart, and as with all Kevin Smith pieces, a great deal of brain (no pun intended).

Zack and Miri have been BFF's since the first grade, which has rendered their relationship strictly platonic. They have never really amounted to much since graduating high school ten years ago, but know that deep down inside they are really much better than the others, or at least tell themselves that.

At the high school reunion, Zack and Miri have to endure the inevitable: the mindless chitchat and feigned nostalgia. The only reason Zack goes is to laugh at people, while Miri goes to show her high school crush what a hottie she's become. To Zack the night is a success, thanks to a hilarious cameo by Justin Long, while Miri's night doesn't quite go as planned. What they come away with is the realization that they really need to do something with their lives, if only to save them from their economic crisis, a story that is not uncommon in America these days. You guessed it. They make a porno.

As silly as it sounds, there is something truly heartfelt, albeit raunchy, about watching Zack and Miri and the rest of their crew make their porn movie. It's kind of like watching Mark Borchardt make his low budget horror flick in the hilarious documentary American Movie, only the porn Zack and Miri and company make is quite possibly the worst porn ever made (okay, okay that may be an exaggeration but you get my point).

All around is a job well done by the cast and cameos. Seth Rogan plays the everyman to a "T" and Elizabeth Banks shines as the high school outcast turned hottie. Their chemistry as platonic friends is golden, and sparks truly fly when their true feelings finally come to light. You'll see familiar faces from both the View Askewniverse and the Apatow family, creating pure hilarity as both of these comic forces collide.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno is less about making a porno than it is about everyday people finding their niche in life. Their niche in life just so happens to be making pornos. Zack and Miri Make a Porno can be synonymous to Joe Six-Pack Becomes a Professional Wrestler, or Joe the Plumber Makes Over $250,000 a Year. Venues who opted not to show this film, I feel are overreacting a bit. Although Kevin Smith's latest certainly lives up to the name, what we ultimately get is a feel-good movie. And a feel-good movie has never felt so good. In the end, Zack and Miri made a porno, and Kevin Smith made an awesome movie.