Zack And Miri Make A Porno

So you're Kevin Smith, king of the gross-out comedy with heart. But somethings gone wrong in the kingdom of the dick joke. A usurper has, well, usurped you. While your back was turned doing a small turn in the latest Die Hard, and probably some other stuff too, along came the one named Judd to steal your crown. What do you do? Well you get back on your horse and challenge him to a jous...oh fuck it! He went and made a movie that out grosses him, in eww factor, not money, and cast his muse, hero of the ugly Seth Rogen in the lead.

Quick synapse, Zack and Miri are broke and after a chance meeting at their high school reunion and some unwanted Youtube stardom realise that porn's a quick way to make some cash. So they make one. The big obstacle? They have to have sex with each other after twenty years of friendship, and we all know sex complicates things. Basically it's a movie full of dick, pussy, arse and shagging jokes with some limp emotional stuff thumbed in there for good measure. On other words, it's a Kevin Smith film.

It's also a Judd Apatow film, but Smith sets himself apart from his fellow rotund director through the idioms of his speech and the plotting. Whereas both are loose in an Apatow film thanks to liberal improvisation, Zack and Miri feels tighter. The dialogue is all Smith. The characters speak faster, the terms of reference slightly more geeky and there are the usual obsessions, mucky stuff, Star Wars and racial and sexual politics. As for the plot, it's actually pretty conventional feel-good Rom-com fare, just with anal jokes so that men feel comfortable watching it. In fact it's so conventional that like Toy Story it would be a perfect screening for a scriptwriting class if you were trying to demonstrate three-act structure with a mid-point. It would be an interesting class, but it is true. There's also some Smith autobiography in the plot. The characters make a movie in their workplace after hours, just instead of it being a renowned award-winning "indie" film it's a porno. But this is more Chasing Amy than Clerks.

The biggest problem is that mushy stuff that tends to rear its head in Smith's films. He's not the only one guilty of it, but in his films it really jars because he isn't the most subtle writer. When doing the outrageous stuff he seems to be comfortable, he can let loose and does. But when he has to reign himself in for the tender stuff it feels a tad unnatural for him. Thankfully it tends not to ruin his movies, most are just too funny, but it still rankles. For Zack And Miri the problem is that it's a film of two halves. The first is a riot but post mid-point pump the "emotions" start to take over. There's still laughs, including a particularly fantastic anal joke involving an unfortunately placed cameraman, but not as many.

Zack And Miri's positive nature is mostly justified though, and a lot of that comes down to the characters and those playing them. These are likable people and you do want them to succeed. Rogen plays himself, as always, but there's nothing wrong with that since he seems like a guy you'd enjoy a pint with down your local. It's also good to see Clerks stars Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson turn up again, both work well with Smith. The real gems, though, are Craig Robinson, good to see him finally get more than a few scenes as he's great in the US version of The Office, and Elizabeth Banks. She is at once beautiful, and yet somehow believable as a woman in this situation, instead of the usual Hollywood bints. It's probably because she allows herself to cut loose just like the guys and so really fits in.

There's a lot to love about Smith's new film, but there's a nagging feeling that he really is trying to capture the Apatow magic after he beat him at his own sweet gross-out game. Those bemoaning his loss of "indie"-cred, whatever the fuck that means, because to me it suggests spending more than a tenner on your budget and hoping people actually go and see your film, won't be won over by this. The emotions get in the way a little too much, but the laughs thankfully outweigh any mushy pish. There's no one quite like Smith when he's in full flow and in Zack And Miri that is thankfully often. If you just allow it to entertain you then you'll enjoy it. Just don't expect anything more than that.