‘Zack and Miri’ unsuccessfully make a porno

The Kevin Smith helmed comedy, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” played at Buckman Theater on Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 and the film was a suitable choice with Valentine’s Day on the horizon (the DVD was also recently released). The film’s themes of love and hate with a helping dose of porn are enough for any college student to relate to on one of the most reprehensible days of the year.

Seth Rogen (Zack) and Elizabeth Banks (Miri) are platonic best friends, who are living together in utter squalor. They cannot pay their bills and are not making enough money to live in their apartment. At their high school reunion, Zack and Miri discover one of their former classmates has been acting in porno films, which gives them the idea to make a film of their own to help pay the bills. Soon after their electricity is turned off, Zack and Miri assemble a team of acquaintances, who help to shoot and act in the feature.

Zack and Miri are close friends, but as the porno shoot gets underway, the dynamic between the life-long buddies shifts dramatically. When it is Zack and Miri’s turn to film their sex scene, the two of them struggle with the idea of becoming so intimate. The film becomes a cliché toward the start of the second half despite a strong beginning. Writer-director Kevin Smith bastardizes a potentially rousing concept about two friends who want to make a porno. The film stops dead in its tracks when the idea of Zack and Miri becoming more than just friends is introduced. Smith is a respectable filmmaker, who is known for making scenes and characters avant-garde. However, Smith falls deep into romantic comedy convention and allows his characters to suffer the banal and annoying habits one would be accustomed to in a film starring Kate Hudson.

The affable Rogen and charming Banks make a wonderful duo and have fantastic chemistry; however, their moments on screen would have been met with more approval had they stayed just friends. Craig Robinson of NBC’s “The Office” co-stars and provides some of the funniest moments in the film as he helps the duo with the feature.

“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” is not the worst way to spend Valentine’s Day, though there are better films in Smith’s filmography to spend the happiest (or saddest) day of the year.

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