Post by StevePulaski on Aug 18, 2010 22:48:59 GMT -5
Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen star as the title characters in Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Rating: ★★½
Zack and Miri Make a Porno could have easily been turned into a Judd Apatow film. Making the sex scenes a bit less raunchy, extend it, tweak the characters and add a bit more description and throw in a moral and it would have done perfect. As far as this being a Kevin Smith movie, it is not. It is not a Kevin Smith film. It doesnt have the great, natural, unscripted dialog Clerks, Dogma, and Chasing Amy all have. It lacks the feel, nice moral, and overall positive sometimes problematic feel of one of his movies. Its a straight laced Comedy with little to no dialog scenes. Thats all.
I want to get straight to the plot because I have a lot to say about this. Underachieving, life long friends and current roomates Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are desparate for money after the water and the lights are turned off in their apartment. Zack comes up with the idea to round up friends to direct and star in a pornographic film and they go and give it a shot (no dirty pun intended). They round up all their friends and after the idea of their movie Star Whores goes down, they make a new one very cheap and just go with the flow.
In Kevin Smith standards, its a one and a half star movie. In movie standards, its a decent Comedy. I respect Kevin Smith wanting to do a different movie taking a break from the characters in the View Askew world. Its just like when he took a break in 2004 and did Jersey Girl and then one in 2010 to do Cop Out and his upcoming film Red State/ So its clear to us that Smith wants a break from the typical characters and wants to take on a style of it's own. Which is alright, but if KS really wanted to do this I wish he didnt get us so attached to the characters then throw a curveball out of nowhere.
I believe that anybody can do whatever they want. Its fine by me. Im have no control or say in what an actor or director wants to pursue. But I do have an opinion. Kevin Smith works best with movies that connect which is what the View Askew system does. All the movies connect in a unique way and to see these not connected sequels out of nowhere just slow things down. Kevin Smith even said he wants a Jay and Silent Bob cartoon, he wants to do a Dogma prequel comic saying why Bartleby and Loki were sent to Wisconsin, a Clerks III, and a Clerks: Sell Out comic. So with all the things planned for the View Askew timeline Im surprised KS has time to do unrelated movies.
This is in no way bad, it's just a typical Comedy which I know is not Kevin Smith's best. My opinion is that KS cant do a normal Comedy, he needs to do things with his Kevin Smith spice. His dialog and characters need to be elaborated to the fullest detail. He needs to have them in the most detailed point blank description. This movie just throws a bunch of characters in the picture, not elaborated, and if this had great dialog scenes it could have very well been called "a perfect Kevin Smith film".
The cameos do impress though. I love Justin Long's character and I love his voice in this movie. I found him to be one of the funniest parts in this whole movie. Same goes with Jeff Anderson. I found him to hysterical in this movie but must question why on the cover he is wearing a pizza man costume when he's never seen in a costume in the actual movie? Small flaw, no big, but he does do a great job in this as far as cameos go. Traci Lords also does a very funny job in this too.
Overall, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is an interesting Comedy with some classic feel, but its not Kevin Smith's cup of tea. In the future I hope he can stick to the View Askew library of characters rather than inventing his own. Still my favorite director, but not my favorite thing in his filmography.
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson, Katie Morgan, Justin Long, and Ricky Mabe. Directed by: Kevin Smith.
...http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/description.html
