Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

Zack and Miri made a porno, Smith and Rogan made me pee my pants
By
J. Sternberg

            I don't exactly recall when this new trend of great romantic comedies featuring porn side plots and themes began, but at the rate this is going I hope it doesn't stop. Love Actually featured a romance between pornstars (it was one of the minor tales) and was a fantastic film, The Girl Next Door featured an ex-pornstar turning her life around and was also a fantastic film. Zack and Miri Make a Porno continues this trend in the most hardcore of fashions. Written by legendary foul mouthed film god Kevin Smith, and starring Seth Rogan, Elizabeth Banks, and featuring Jason Mewes and a showstealling cameo by Justin Long, Zack and Miri is one of the most vulgar, hilarious, and heartwarming films of the year.

            The plot goes a little something like this, long-time friends, and total losers, get all of their utilities shut off, and realize their financial situation is total shit. After much convincing from Zack, Miri agrees to make a porno film to get rich quick. Its pretty basic. Along the way, things get weird, stuff goes wrong, and somewhere, somehow, Miri and Zack realize that they, in fact, love each other. Yeah its kinda predictable, but the journey is more than worth the destination.

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            Rogan is hilarious and fits the Kevin Smith dialogue like a glove, while the rest of the cast nail their parts in ways you never thought possible. While Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes aren't exactly treading any new ground, (basically playing "Randall" and "Jay" all over again) there's a reason these two are View Askew regulars. All in all this film is a well-made adult comic-romp that redeems Smith for Jersey Girl, and its full of all the stilted dialogue-based dick and fart humor that brought him to the dance in the first place. I've gotta be totally up front. Not only did I love the hell out of this movie, but as jaded as I am, this was the first and only film that's ever made me do a spit take.

            One of the real treats come from Jason Mewes, who obviously loved playing the dopey male porn star, Chester. His cheesy and wooden (pardon my pun) approach to the onscreen line delivery, versus his fireball stoner approach to the offscreen stuff, is thoroughly entertaining. It is, however, mildly disturbing once you realize his resemblance to Tom Felton of Draco Malfoy fame from the Harry Potter series. The other being Justin Long's brief cameo as gay pornstar Brandon St. Randy. His play off of Rogan and Brandon "Superman" Routh (as Brandon's boyfriend, Bobby Long) is an absolute laugh riot. I'd love to see a blooper reel of just this scene to see how many times all three of them crack up while throwing down in this absolutely absurd and hilarious back and forth scene.

            They tap into a visceral comedic vein and say, quite frankly, even though porn and sex are different, they are sex and porn. The adult industry itself is full of self parody, and awkward sex is hilarious when you think about it. Katie Morgan's parody of her profession is priceless, and I was really amused by Traci Lord's playful poke at her porno past. (alliteration is fun!). Everyone performs with a ridiculous amount of heart, and a bulletproof sense of believability, regardless of how nonsensical some of the conflicts come across. I mean christ, Elizabeth Banks had trouble getting laid? Yeah Right!. Folks, you're witnessing the new school of comedic acting, and it is good. There's a surplus of chemistry on set and it does wonders for the film as a whole, and you can't help but smile through most of this movie. Banks and Rogan do an amazing job making you believe in their awkward stumble through falling in love, and in a way (if you remove that they had to resort to making porn), this "friend falling for a friend" storyline is much easier to believe and identify with than most of hackneyed plots in the last 10 years worth of romantic comedies.

            Its too vulgar (and real) for The Lifetime Network, yet sweet enough to be a date movie that reminds you of the dizzying and magical high that comes with realizing that you actually love someone. I'm not sure what's it like for a woman to solidify that fact, but I do sympathize with Zack's (and Rogan's delivery of the) "whoa, no way" approach to that realization, and I'd hope Banks's portrayal is also as wonderfully truthful. Yeah, it may have more than its fair share of thoroughly-adult humor, but the cast and writing are wonderful, and I'd be hard pressed to see a more romantic comedy this year (even considering its context) See it, as soon as you can.

Final Verdict:

I give Zack and Miri Make a Porno 4 "Dutch Rudder"s out of 5

-J. " Your shirpa on the mountain of straightness" Sternberg