Finally! Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen have teamed up for the baddest, wildest and weirdly sweetest movie about pictures for pleasure you could ever imagine. Both guys are wizards at hilarious gutter talk; match them up with Elizabeth Banks – who can more than hold her own – and you've got a redefinition of the romantic comedy, rated R.
Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) have been friends since youth. They live like cozy siblings in a rundown shared house. Zack's job serving coffee at the local latte palace doesn't exactly make him rich, so when both he and Miri hit their debt ceiling, they're forced to come up with a plan. Inspired first by Miri's accidental YouTube debut in her “granny panties,” then by a random conversation at a high-school reunion, Zack and Miri decide that the best way to score quick money is to make an adult film they can sell on the Internet. Together. For real.
This is edgy territory for a mainstream movie, and Smith barges in with everything swinging. The dialogue between Zack and Miri as they work through the specifics of producing porn is hilarious; these are people who say exactly what they're thinking. Their first shot at a scenario – a Star Wars takeoff with porn star names for all the characters – turns into a genius set piece. But as these two life-long best friends prepare to take it all off for the cameras, the business of sex suddenly gets serious. For the first time, they're exposed, and all their hardcore joking is stripped away to reveal real emotion.
So yes, Kevin Smith gets to do it both ways. Zack and Miri is raunchy, outrageous and verbally explicit. The supporting performance by legendary porn star Traci Lords is a work of pop art unto itself. And yet there is a surprisingly touching love story woven into the raunch. This is where Banks and Rogen prove their ability to balance sweet and salty, and Smith gets to have his cheesecake and eat it too.
Cameron Bailey
Kevin Smith was born in New Jersey. His feature films include Clerks (94), Mallrats (95), Chasing Amy (97), Dogma (99), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (01), Jersey Girl (04), Clerks II (06) and Zack and Miri Make a Porno (08).