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Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Director: Kevin Smith

Time Out rating

Average user rating

16 reviews

Synopsis

Director Kevin Smith ('Clerks', 'Dogma') returns to challenge notions of taste and decency with his latest comedy, ‘Zack and Miri Make a Porno’. Starring ‘Knocked Up’’s Seth Rogen alongside up and coming (no pun intended) comedienne Elizabeth Banks (‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’, ‘W.’), the film tells the tale of two platonic friends facing financial ruin who decide to produce a dirty movie for quick cash. But nothing goes as planned, and as the couple work together on their mucky magnum opus they find themselves developing forbidden romantic feelings for one another.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Once the golden boy of Hollywood slackerdom, Kevin Smith has seen his star wane thanks to underwhelming directorial projects like ‘Jersey Girl’ and the frankly unwatchable ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’. The director of ‘Clerks’ has also had to deal with the inexorable rise of new, more talented comedy mastermind Judd Apatow. Now Smith appears to be fighting back, borrowing Apatow alumni Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks for a high-concept comedy romp about a pair of platonic friends who team up to conquer the adult-movie market, with unwanted romantic consequences.

Though it was made months before the current financial crisis, the film’s early stages feel bizarrely relevant as our cash-strapped heroes find themselves ‘out of options and dignity’ and so opt for the only opportunity left to them. This first act showcases the film’s strengths: Rogen and Banks make for very affable leads and Smith’s script, while leaving very little to the imagination, is nicely paced and studded with more than a few memorable one liners.

But as matters progress from dirty chat to actual onscreen humping, the problems increasingly become apparent. The narrative goes out of its way to unite the basest preoccupations of a decade of gross-out comedy: bodily functions, gay jokes, race relations and the hilarious marital habits of black folks, all tied up in a torrent of filthy language that would make Eddie Murphy blush. Smith may have pioneered this kind of upfront sex chat, but the Apatow team refined it. ‘Zack and Miri’ feels uncomfortably like a gruesome game of filth-talk oneupmanship, and it’s hard to care who comes out on top.

Author: Tom Huddleston 2008-11-11 14:11:27

Time Out London Issue 1995, 13-19 November, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Lewis-Patrick said...

Posted on Dec 11 2008 19:50 In my eyes, this was one of the funniest films I have ever seen. I'm not the kind of person that loves dick and fart jokes; but this movie really had somthing funny going on for it. I think i can relate to it somhow...even though I'm not making a porno myself. I felt there was something quite sweet dug in throughout that movie that made me smile.

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uk said...

Posted on Dec 11 2008 19:43 ha ha
timeout gets its reviews right on -
the sociopathic critics who do not need dope as they are delirious anyway due to congenital defects -
and perfect day is their doyen -he needs more then tolerance to make his presence tolerable
i am sure he is on their payroll as bazza rightly descibed
still this movie is a piece of crap worthy of dumping in a garbage dump

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PERFECT DAY said...

Posted on Nov 29 2008 20:10 Bazza - I am sticking to my opinion that this film was not worth the price of a ticket. I'm laughing at you but I wouldn't pay tuppence to see you! Get my point, dude?
No I don't work for Time Out. Elizabeth Banks was an embarrassment in this film. If this is your standard for entertainment, then you are easily pleased. So --- peace on your message.

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Bazza said...

Posted on Nov 29 2008 14:24 Looking at the comments on this review it looks like the Timeout reviewer has the minority view. Perfect Day you work for Timeout dont you go on admit it. When has some big laugh out loud moments ever NOT justified a cinema ticker, come on man its only £6 - £7 and its the assumption that only stoners will like this movie is a injustice to those who do.

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PERFECT DAY said...

Posted on Nov 29 2008 10:06 The Time Out reviewers generally get their reviews spot on. The reviews are aimed at people who like to give a little thought about which films they go to see. It's not aimed at sociopath potheads who will laugh at anything and everything. So stick that in ya druggy pipe and smoke it. Elizabeth Banks was rubbish in this film.

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supercol said...

Posted on Nov 29 2008 01:22 Agree with Karapet below.Time Out reviewers are totally up their own a**es. Cynical,humourless freaks..Time was film and literary criticism was does done by people with some trace of humanity and knowledge of the art under discussion, not who they know in publishing.If you want a laugh ,check out this film .Like clerks, Jay n Bob ..this is kooky and cute too. enjoy. Job done ,over and out. critics!?...get a proper job..time wasters.

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Karapet said...

Posted on Nov 28 2008 19:27 The reviewer is obviously not a Kevin Smith fan since he found Jay and Silent Bob strike back 'unwatchable' and no doubt was already biased before seeing Zack and Miri. It's a long time since I sat in a movie theatre laughing out loud but this film did it for me, it's hilarious, probably the best film Smith has done. Go see it but don't take anyone who is offended by bad language.

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Bazza said...

Posted on Nov 25 2008 00:33 How can you say Jay and Silent Bob strikes back is unwatchable. I think you should stick to your cutey dumb down hollywood comedies and try not to deal with anything that taxes your pillow soft boundries of taste and decency. Along with "In Bruge", "No country for old men" and "Burn after Reading" finally something to watch another great Kevin Smith comedy.

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Tom said...

Posted on Nov 23 2008 21:14 This was laugh out loud funny, if you like superbad and Napolean dynamite you'll love this

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PERFECT DAY said...

Posted on Nov 21 2008 22:03 Some big laugh out loud moments - but not enough to justify the price of a cinema ticket. Unfortunately the failure of this film lies squarely on the miscasting of Elizabeth Banks. She cannot do comedy.

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Daniel said...

Posted on Nov 20 2008 12:05 The storyline was always going to be obvious, as was the ending, but the hilarious dialouge in between makes this a film worth watching.

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stacey said...

Posted on Nov 16 2008 16:18 brilliant u need 2 c this!!!!

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Lewis-Patrick said...

Posted on Nov 16 2008 11:09 I watched this film with my brother last night and we found it hilarious. Within the first five seconds of the film we were laughing and never really stopped. I personally also found the film to be rather cute despite it's crude humor. The sex scene between Zack and Miri is beautiful but as the same time hysterical. Favourite comedy of the year.

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uk said...

Posted on Nov 15 2008 15:37 morons make a real mess in macdonalds too-the best alternate title for a comedy which is a mere piece of excremental example of easily one of the worst movies ever made .
you have to be really endowed with an extra brain to enjoy this and it is really irritating to see elizabeth banks wasting herself in this and also very embarassing with the toilet humor and double entendres with a dull and boring elocution,
as for seth rogan knocked up was and will be his only credit eternally .
see this if you want to endure total torture and an epileptic fit out of sheer frustration and exasperation .

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Ethan said...

Posted on Nov 15 2008 13:31 Ah, the hate towards Kevin Smith, is there anything more obvious to go on? Frankly unwatchable? Jay and Silent Bob is a hilarious, if a tad too mainstream, film where Jason Mewes got to own a whole screen for an hour and forty. This film is magnificent, caught it first screening, a lifelong Smith fan, whilst the Apatow gang does good work, they have nothing on Smith, the charm and heart is far more prevalent with the darker gags and naughty bits, it's not afraid to go too far because Smith knows he can reign it back in to a sweet and warm finale, and it works, it's a laugh fuelled hour and fifty, with Rogen and Banks being his best leads yet, and Craig Robinson just stealing every scene, can't wait to see this millions more times.

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