Zack and Miri Make a Porno (R) ***
Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald
Zack and Miri Make a Porno is writer-director Kevin Smith’s funniest, sharpest and most polished movie to date. It also is his most mature and emotionally engaging picture, even if it happens to contain one of the grossest sight gags I’ve ever encountered in a mainstream Hollywood film — a bit of business so breathtakingly vile I cannot even begin to describe it here.
That observation should calm Smith diehards fearful of another Jersey Girl, the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez comedy-drama about parenthood Smith made in 2004 and which earned him the wrath of his hardcore following for going soft and sentimental. Smith has built his career on the vulgar and the profane: He’s a superbly gifted writer who wields four-letter words as skillfully as George Carlin and Lenny Bruce wielded them, albeit mostly for cheaper, lowbrow laughs.
And Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which follows the titular best friends and roommates (played by Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) as they venture into the world of homemade adult films in order to pay their mounting bills, finds Smith venturing into new depths of smutty humor. This time, his characters do more than just talk dirty: This is the director’s first film with copious amounts of nudity (enough, in fact, to have briefly earned it an NC-17 rating before Smith successfully appealed).
There is a lot of bawdy fun to be had in Zack and Miri’s foray into the world of amateur porn, such as their brainstorming sessions on how to sexualize every aspect of the Star Wars saga in order to make their X-rated remake, Star Whores. The movie even doles out fresh permutations of time-honored carnal games, such as the ”dutch rudder,” which, as far as I can tell, is a brand-new invention exclusive to Zack and Miri, although I doubt there will be many viewers eager to rush home and try it.
But as funny as it is, Zack and Miri becomes more than just another raunchy laughfest because of the earnestness and — yes — sentiment that Smith brings to his characters. Rogen (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) and Banks (W., The 40 Year-Old Virgin) play their roles as if they were starring in a romantic comedy about two lifelong friends who gradually discover they’ve been in love all this time. The fact that they realize this in the midst of shooting an hilariously inept, crummy porn flick is almost beside the point.
For all his trademark vulgarity, Smith is a softie at heart — a romantic who believes in the bond of friendship and the spontaneous nature of true love, which often sprouts up when you least expect it. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is crude and raunchy, but it’s also a great date movie. See it with someone you love — and want to grope.
Cast: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, Brandon Routh, Justin Long.
Writer-director: Kevin Smith.
Producer: Scott Mosier.
A Weinstein Company release. Running time: 101 minutes. Vulgar language, explicit sex, nudity, adult themes.
This story was originally published October 29, 2008 at 9:10 PM.