Zack and Miri Make a Porno: Sex, Pals and Videotape

Romantic comedies often make do on flimsy premises, but this one is thinner than Kate Moss and nuttier than an Almond Joy. Attend: Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are close friends and functioning heterosexuals who somehow have lived together without having sex or, for that matter, coveting it. When grinding poverty forces them to raise money quick, Zack suggests that they appear in a porno movie and sell it on the Internet. Purely an economic decision, you see, no concupiscence involved — though we know Rogen from his Judd Apatow movies as a perpetual horn dog, and Banks (Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's W.) is such an appealing presence, she could copyright Cute.

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Kevin Smith and the Raunch Romance

Preposterous or not, this is way more plot than Kevin Smith, the writer-director of Zack and Miri Make a Porno, used to get by on. His first film, Clerks, was little more than guys talking, and that was enough, since Smith not only knew all the bad words but also could twist them into illuminating comedy. In Chasing Amy, he found the poignancy in male bluster, the warmth in a guy's rivalry with and veneration of that other species, The Girl.

In Zack and Miri, Smith flounders for a while in situations and gags that are frankly sub-Smithian. It's as if Apatow has swiped his mojo and Smith can't get it back. As he constructs his rickety thesis, with Zack and Miri recruiting cast and crew for their X-rated masterpiece, the one spark of comedy brilliance is provided by Justin Long (the Mac guy in the Mac commercials) as a frog-throated gay porn star.

The film was initially rated NC-17, winning an R on appeal; it has a possibly unprecedented poo scene, but it's pretty tame erotically. It ought to be called Zack and Miri Try to Make a Porno and Fall in Love. When they finally get it on, Rogen and Banks reveal a benign chemistry, and the film dissolves all reservations as Smith relocates his vibe. At 38, the grand old man of raunch talk has figured out how to make a movie that's sweet, funny and (a little) sexy.