Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks feature in one of the weirdest, funniest and sexiest moments in “The 40 Year Old Virgin” (the bathtub scene), and a few years later they star together in another of that era’s core comedies, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (2008). They have that “maybe more than friends” chemistry writer-director Kevin Smith’s rom-com needs to round out a laugh-loaded screenplay.
Seth and Elizabeth make a comedy
The title gives us a lot to get hung up on. It’s blunt and racy; the film is simply called “Zack and Miri” in some releases. It also spells out the whole plot, and that does end up hurting the surprise factor.
“Z&M” starts as one of Smith’s most evocatively shot films, capturing the Pittsburgh winter chill. Zack and Miri are especially chilly when their heat is turned off. In a great image that illustrates their lot in life, they burn unpaid bills in a garbage can for warmth.
To celebrate Kevin Smith’s birthday, from Aug. 1-9 we’re spotlighting some of his work that we haven’t previously reviewed at Reviews from My Couch.
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (2008)
Director: Kevin Smith
Writer: Kevin Smith
Stars: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson
The humor is front-loaded. Rogen, looking like the wheelchair-bound lad from “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” smoothly spews Smith’s sexual-reference-laden dialog, and Banks keeps up. Especially funny is their brainstorming session for titles of porno versions of “Star Wars” films.
We also get Craig Robinson as the porno producer and “Clerks’ ” uniquely voiced Jeff Anderson as the cameraman.
Justin Long (“Jeepers Creepers”) steals a scene – and almost the whole movie – as deep-voiced L.A.-based gay porn star Brandon, who pops into Zack and Miri’s 10-year high school reunion.
Like a raunchier version of a Judd Apatow film, “Z&M” has the humorously gross sexual references you’d expect from a Smith project, but it also shows everyone’s satisfaction at making something. They hope their porno film will make money, as roommates Zack and Miri are in especially dire financial straits, but they also take pride in their work.
Not-so-surprising love story
I don’t think I’m spoiling anything to say Zack and Miri actually love each other, despite their protestations otherwise. This is confirmed during a strange but mostly effective scene that blends Z&M’s honest romance with comedic cutaways to the bored filmmakers who aren’t getting the porno scene they expected.
What’s more, the sequence features Live’s “Hold Me Up,” a Holy Grail among fans that was left off the “Z&M” soundtrack album and finally saw an official release in 2019.
For someone who early on was considered to be a better writer than director, Smith completed his maturation process fairly quickly. The comedic timing is in place in “Z&M,” like when we cut to Zack’s entertained expressions amid Brandon’s effusive, off-color declarations of love for his boyfriend (Brandon Routh).
“Z&M’s” momentum slows in the back half because it focuses on the romance and we know how it’s gonna turn out. I would’ve liked a more surprising angle toward the expected outcome.
Then good ole Jason Mewes (the Jay of Jay & Silent Bob, although he plays Lester here) comes in for one last blast of over-the-top raunch to remind us this is a View Askew film (even if it’s not the core universe).
And, while “Zack and Miri Make a Porno’s” rom-com nature eventually catches up with its edginess, it’s a particularly funny example of the genre.