Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Kevin Smith

Writer (WGA):

Kevin Smith (written by)

Release Date:

31 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

What would you do to get out of debt?

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Coffee Shop | Rent | Gay Couple | Gay | Flirting

Cast

Elizabeth Banks	...	Miri
Seth Rogen	...	Zack
Craig Robinson	...	Delaney
Gerry Bednob	...	Mr. Surya
Jason Mewes	...	Lester
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

Also Known As:

Zack and Miri (USA) (promotional title) (USA) (DVD box title)
Untitled Kevin Smith Minnesota Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (No. 44622) (re-rating on appeal) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Ireland:18 | Finland:K-15 | UK:18 | Australia:R | Singapore:R21 | Denmark:11 | Norway:15 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Sweden:11 | New Zealand:R18 | Hong Kong:III | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Mexico:B15 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Blue Askew

Trivia:

The "shoot the geek" gag was an idea thought up by Kevin Smith while he was writing Clerks II (2006). Originally it was going to be Jeff Anderson as Randal in the suit getting shot in the crotch.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Zac and Miri come home from their high school reunion, Zac has a trophy in his hand. There is no reason explained in the DVD cut why he has a trophy. However, in the deleted scenes part of the DVD, there was a scene where Zac and Miri won a trophy for being the people who lived the closest to their high school as opposed to the trophy for people who moved the furthest away from their high school and it is pointed out Zac and Miri live across the street from their high school.

Quotes:

Writer of Titles: [At the end of the titles] Christ, I spend way too much time on the internet.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Star Wars (1977)

Soundtrack:

You And I Are A Gang Of Losers

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.