Zack and Miri Make a Porno

You don’t have to be too imaginative to guess what this one’s about. Life-long pals Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Eizabeth Banks) need cash in order to keep the apartment they share. Because the two lack any dignity and family members, Zack says, they decide to make a low-budget porno.

Kevin Smith, one of the pioneering indie filmmakers of the ‘90s, directs his latest with the same raunch that he’s know for cooking up. Zack and Miri is nowhere near as original or clever as his Clerks, but it does have its moments.

There is a great, all-too-brief scene with Justin Long as a gay porn actor from LA. Long, the funnyman from Accepted, The Break-Up and Waiting…, gives this film its best scene. He talks with a deep, raspy voice while sipping a cosmo. It’s flat-out hilarious. And is that the most recent Superman as his lover? You bet.

Unfortunately, the rest of Zack and Miri lacks any real comic zeal. Sure a few of the gags are funny, (I particularly liked the result of the cameraman filming underneath two people during the porno shoot.) But for the most part, this is throwaway humor that almost mocks your stupidity. D+