Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Zack and Miri Make A Good Movie

By JAMES DRZEWIECKI
Kevin Smith’s foul-mouthed, filthy and charming film about Zack and Miri making a porno proves to be more than just dirty jokes, its dirty jokes with a heart.
I’ll say this now, this movie is not for everyone, and a lot of people might be offended about what the movie talks about and shows. So, if you do decide to see it, remember they are making an adult film so expect a lot of raunchy things.
The movie starts with Zack (Seth Rogen) and his roommate and longtime friend, Miri (Elizabeth Banks). Due to lack of funds coming into the household, they have a large amount of bills that have driven them both deep into debt.
When they attend their 10-year high school reunion, Zack meets Brandon a man who does his own porn and distributes it himself pulling in over a 100 grand a year. This plants an idea in Zack’s head and when he and Miri are faced with eviction, Zack presents to her his idea about them making a porno.
Miri takes Zack up on his offer; and then they both realize that they have to be together on camera. This poses a problem, because they’ve always been just friends and Miri becomes concerned that one of them might get attached, Zack reassures her that what ever happens on camera is just to make them rich and it doesn’t mean anything.
Once they’ve come together, Zack and Miri start to look for their producer, cameraman and other people they can put in front of the camera. The ones that really stuck out for me were Jason Mewes (who usually plays Silent Bob’s friend Jay) plays Lester in this movie who has a talent that you have to find out for yourself, Jeff Anderson (who plays Randall in the Clerks movies) plays Deacon, a camera man who is involved in the movies most disgusting scene and Craig Robinson (who plays Darryl in one of my favorite shows “The Office”) plays Delaney, the films producer and Zack’s co-worker at a coffee shop proves to be hilarious in scenes where he tries to accomplish things he’s only has assumptions about.
Once they get their team together that start to get closer and closer to the scene between Zack and Miri and when the scene finally happens it throws both characters for a loop, because they both found out, what they should’ve known all along – they’re in love.
I think that’s enough plot for you and now you’re going have to see the movie in order to find out if Zack and Miri get together and what ever becomes of the movie they’re making.
I really did enjoy this movie and the reason I enjoyed it is because it’s not just a raunchy comedy, it’s a raunchy romantic comedy with a heart. Both Rogen and Banks have the chemistry that Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen lacked in Knocked Up. The chemistry between these two in the movie makes it more human and also makes you care for these characters.
The story/script was really well written for the most part (I had some issues with the ending). Smith always seems to have scenes that just offer raw discussions about sex (which made me reminisce about his movie Chasing Amy) and in this movie he takes it a step further and it works extremely well.
One thing I didn’t like about the movie is the ending, I can’t really get into this with out spoiling the whole story for you, but I thought some things went unanswered and it turned into a very generic feeling love story ending. I guess I was expecting just a little more from Smith, after a great well rounded movie.
I wouldn’t say this is Smith’s best film, but it’s a close second. I think he’s finally gotten over his Ben Affleck curse and I hope that he continues to do movies with Seth Rogen.

***out of Four
B+

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