Release Date: 2008
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogan, Jason Mewes, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson
Tagline: "What would you do to get out of debt?"
Random Trivia: The original one sheet/poster hit censorship issues in the US, so a stick-figure poster was released. No such problems were encountered in Canada - except in Toronto subway stations, where the original poster was slightly altered to make it less explicit.
Has this blog really been going several months without a Kevin Smith movie review? WTF? Nothing about Jay and Silent Bob??? We're just not living up to our name, damn it!
Ok so here I am to the rescue, thanks to Half Baked stopping by the other day and me winding up in a review-like state of mind.
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogan, Jason Mewes, Elizabeth Banks, Traci Lords, Jeff Anderson
Tagline: "What would you do to get out of debt?"
Random Trivia: The original one sheet/poster hit censorship issues in the US, so a stick-figure poster was released. No such problems were encountered in Canada - except in Toronto subway stations, where the original poster was slightly altered to make it less explicit.
Has this blog really been going several months without a Kevin Smith movie review? WTF? Nothing about Jay and Silent Bob??? We're just not living up to our name, damn it!
Ok so here I am to the rescue, thanks to Half Baked stopping by the other day and me winding up in a review-like state of mind.
When you really look at it, this is Kevin Smith's first real non-Askewniverse film (meaning View Askew films compromising the loosely-related Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II). Oh, sure, there was Jersey Girl, but Smith got the shaft on that by casting pal Ben Affleck only to have the Bennifer thing blow up in his face when Gigli (which Smith had nothing to do with) bombed worse than Ishtar (well, maybe not quite that bad.). Unfortunately, half the world thought Jersey Girl *was* Gigli, and just about no one went to see it.
Then Smith decided to write this little script about two friends shooting porn to get out of debt, with the lead specifically written for Seth Rogan. Rogan at that point was breaking out, and lets face it - for the past year and a half to two years, he's been in fucking everything. I fully expect him to show up as one of the new generation Ghostbusters in the near future.
Rogen said yes, and the result is Zack and Miri Make a Porno... which could almost be an Askewniverse film. It's definitely funny enough, has Jeff Anderson as a goalie/camera man (he was Randall in Clerks I/II, where he also played goal), and is completely fucked.
Then Smith decided to write this little script about two friends shooting porn to get out of debt, with the lead specifically written for Seth Rogan. Rogan at that point was breaking out, and lets face it - for the past year and a half to two years, he's been in fucking everything. I fully expect him to show up as one of the new generation Ghostbusters in the near future.
Rogen said yes, and the result is Zack and Miri Make a Porno... which could almost be an Askewniverse film. It's definitely funny enough, has Jeff Anderson as a goalie/camera man (he was Randall in Clerks I/II, where he also played goal), and is completely fucked.
Exhibit A: Brandon Routh and Justin Long as gay lovers/porn stars who show up at Zack and Miri's high school reunion. Zack actually takes a shine to Long, and the entire sequence of Elizabeth Bank's Miri hitting on Routh is perfectly done.
Examble B: Everything else.
I should probably go into some plot here. Zack and Miri were high school pals. Zack and Miri never went anywhere. Now they're platonic roommates who can barely make ends meet. By the time their high school reunion rolls around, they're behind on rent and their heat is about to be shut off. Looking to cash in quick, Zack comes up with a plan - produce and star in a porno flick, sell it to people they went to school with, and pay off those bills.
It's an idea that really could only exist in a Kevin Smith film. I mean really, if you're going to make porn - sell it on the net. There's plenty of buyers after all.
But Zack and Miri stick to the small time, while somehow hiring a couple of hot chicks near - forgive the pun - pro-bono to take some shaft, and Lester the Molester (Jason Mewes) as the male "talent" to go along with Zack.
Examble B: Everything else.
I should probably go into some plot here. Zack and Miri were high school pals. Zack and Miri never went anywhere. Now they're platonic roommates who can barely make ends meet. By the time their high school reunion rolls around, they're behind on rent and their heat is about to be shut off. Looking to cash in quick, Zack comes up with a plan - produce and star in a porno flick, sell it to people they went to school with, and pay off those bills.
It's an idea that really could only exist in a Kevin Smith film. I mean really, if you're going to make porn - sell it on the net. There's plenty of buyers after all.
But Zack and Miri stick to the small time, while somehow hiring a couple of hot chicks near - forgive the pun - pro-bono to take some shaft, and Lester the Molester (Jason Mewes) as the male "talent" to go along with Zack.
The cast and crew decide to try a spoof called Star Whores, but when their "sound stage" is destroyed by a wrecking crew, a more basic concept comes to life: film the movie at Zack's place of employment, a coffee shop.
There's plenty of funny sex shoot scenes, a fair amount of nakedness, but believe it or not, the film actually has heart, and what it really turns out to be is a raunchy love story between two best friends - who realize, during the execution of their cunning porn plan, that they're really more than friends.
The casting is solid - including underage porn legend Traci Lords, Jason Mewes - who is just hilarious in one of his few non-Jay-like roles (ok there's still a bit of him in there), and The Office's Craig Robinson as Zack's co-worker/porn financier ("I just wanted to see from free titties"...).
This was easily one of the best comedies of 2008... so I'll end it with - just go watch it. As long as you're not the easily offended type. Because while it has heart - it still has a constipation problem solved by on-camera anal sex.
Overall rating: 3/4 Baked (4 out of 5)
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