Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008): Movie Review

The movie title says it all. Yeah, this movie is about Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) making a pornographic movie. The movie title actually sounds really tacky. But the movie did do a pretty good job at entertaining me. The movie has humor, some bad language, arguments between a male and a female, and it’s also a little love story; which all sums up as a romantic crack headed comedy. What more could you ask for? Of course, I have to admit that my favorite crack headed comedy movie is Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Anyway, Zack and Miri Make a Porno was released in theaters on October 31, 2008 in the United States. As of January 8, 2009 the film had grossed about $31 million in North America and $5 million overseas. Looking at these numbers, looks like the movie didn’t do quite well in the theaters. I don’t know why, but the movie is really worth watching. Comparing this movie to Step Brothers, looks like Step Brothers did way better than this movie. But you know what? That doesn’t mean a thing, because Zack and Miri Make a Porno cannot even be compared to a pathetic movie attempt such as Step Brothers.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno is directed by Kevin Smith, and he did a fine job, not splendid, but fine. The movie is basically about Zack and Miri trying to make a pornographic movie to earn some cash. Acting was very well done and everyone did a nice job. The storyline was also believable and not too dumb or stupid. It did actually lean more towards stupid, but it’s a movie, and it did a great job in entertaining me.  And that’s all I need to enjoy a movie.

Here’s the plot of the movie taken directly from Wikipedia. There might be SPOILERS, so please be warned. S indicates the start point and F indicates the end point of the plot. Begin highlighting from S and end at F to view the plot.

S“Monroeville, Pennsylvania roommates Zack Brown (Seth Rogen) and Miriam “Miri” Linky (Elizabeth Banks), who’ve been friends since the first grade, are facing hard times and a mountain of debt. Miri works at the local shopping mall and Zack works at a coffee shop, but they are so inundated with unpaid bills that their water gets turned off right before their high school reunion. At the reunion, Miri attempts to seduce her attractive former schoolmate Bobby Long (Brandon Routh), while Zack strikes up a conversation with Brandon St. Randy (Justin Long), who reveals that he is a gay porn star, and Bobby’s boyfriend.

After returning home from the reunion, the apartment’s electricity is turned off. Inspired by both the cultural mainstreaming of porn and the successful viral video that a coffee shop patron shot of Miri in a state of undress, Zack convinces Miri to film a pornographic movie together to make money.

Gathering a group of acquaintances and hired crew, they decide to film a Star Wars parody film called Star Whores. Their coworker, Delaney (Craig Robinson), who is made the producer, initially rents filming equipment and a building to use as a studio. But when they return the next day to begin filming, the group arrives to see the building being demolished, along with the equipment inside. They are told that that the man that rented it to them had run off with the money. Remembering that their boss threatened to install hidden video surveillance, Zack finds it, and decides to use it to replace their lost filming equipment. Zack revamps the film to one with a coffee shop motif, Swallow My Cockuccino, which they will film after hours at the coffee shop where Zack works using the surveillance camera.

Despite their insistence to one another that they would not allow having sex with each other to affect their friendship, when it comes time for Zack and Miri to have sex on camera, they find that instead of the clinical sex enacted by the actors in the other scenes, their interlude is romantic and heartfelt. Later that evening, Zack and Miri are at home when suddenly their power and water is turned back on. The rest of the actors and crew show up and reveal that they pooled their resources to pay one month of their bills, and have come over to throw them a party.

At the party, one of the other actresses, Stacey (Katie Morgan), asks Miri if it is okay for her to ask Zack to have sex. Although Miri has realized that she has developed feelings for Zack, she tells her it is okay to ask him. When Stacey relates this to Zack, the two retreat to Zack’s bedroom, much to Miri’s dismay.

The next evening, Zack is preparing to film a scene between Stacey and another actor, Lester (Jason Mewes), that was supposed to have been with Lester and Miri. Zack is dismayed when Miri shows up and insists on shooting the scene as originally planned. An incredulous Zack asks if she is doing this as a form of retaliation, pointing out that Stacey told him that Miri didn’t mind her sleeping with Zack. Miri corrects him, clarifying that she didn’t mind that Stacey merely made the offer to sleep with him. Perceiving this to have been some type of test, Zack admits that during the sex scene they filmed together, there was an emotional connection between them, and that he loves Miri. When Miri does not reciprocate, Zack storms out of the coffee shop, quitting the film and his job, and moves out of the apartment.

Three months later, Zack sees Delaney and Deacon (Jeff Anderson), the cameraman, and learns that Miri never filmed the scene with Lester. Zack goes to Miri’s apartment, and reveals to her that he never slept with Stacey, as they only ended up talking about Miri and Zack’s relationship. He pours his heart out to Miri, telling her that he loves her, and in response, Miri reciprocates. They marry, and start their own video production company, Zack and Miri Make Your Porno, which makes amateur videos for couples.”F

If you didn’t read the plot which contained spoilers, here’s a spoiler free summary of the plot;

“Zack and Miri are both out of cash and they need the cash to pay up their bills. Zack comes up with an idea to film and sell a pornographic movie, so that they can get some cash and start living normally again. And during this event, they also fall in love.”

That looks like a good enough summary for this movie. It outlines what the story is really about. Wow, I’m actually impressed with my own summary!

One interesting mention about this movie are the poster designs. The poster that I have used is actually a relaunched poster for the United States because for some reason, the original poster was too explicit for them. Jeez, look who’s talking about explicit. Anyway, the original poster actually suggests that the title characters are performing oral sex. Many media outlets refused to run the poster because of this and it was quite an issue. The poster was also banned for use in the United States theaters by the MPAA. Another version of the poster was made, which only shows stick figures. After a while, the poster was relaunched with cartoon styled graphics, which by the way does not give any idea of what the movie is about. But even still, this poster was also somewhat inappropriate because of the word “porno” used in a poster that looks very kid friendly. Now this, I can agree with. Anyway, that was the last version of the poster I know of that was made. To read more about this, visit Wikipedia. Below are the links to the 3 posters I was babbling about;

1st Version / 2nd Version / 3rd Version

What made me watch this movie? Well, last week was one of the most horrible weeks I’ve ever had at work. It was just painlessly busy the whole entire week. And so, I wanted to watch something like Harold and Kumar during the weekend to release some stress and laugh like an idiot. Then I thought of this movie, Zak and Miri Make a Porno. It wasn’t exactly Harold and Kumar, but it was close enough. Overall, the movie did a great job in entertaining me, and I would recommend it to anyone else who like watching romantic comedies like this.

Final Verdict: 3 / 5