Film

Kevin Smith’s fans are always eager to point out that without him, there would be no Judd Apatow. The foulmouthed, pop-culture-and-sex-obsessed guy pals of The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad are the spiritual children of Dante Hicks and Randal Graves in Clerks. With Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Smith seems eager to retake the fast-talking-filth crown, and
also get in on a little of Apatow’s racket of throwing in some sentimentality. On the first count, the collaboration of Smith and Seth Rogen yields solid results. When it comes to handling romance, the director can’t resist putting one of his characters on a toilet for the climactic admission of love.

Longtime roommates and compatriots in poverty Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) have achieved a level of comfort in their years living together; he can make jokes about her dildo and she can discuss his masturbation habits. Faced with a mountain of debt, they decide to make a XXX movie and self-distribute. To any observer, Zack and Miri’s easygoing friendship is obviously love, but for them to realize it, they must first do a porn scene together. Think of it as When Harry Fucked Sally. Whenever Rogen and, to a lesser extent, Banks are just riffing, Smith is in his comfort zone. He’s less adept at handling more conventional plotting and standard genre moments. But does anyone go to a Kevin Smith film with the word porno in the title expecting a conventional romantic comedy?