I was a little ill-prepared when I went to the theater to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno. From the previews, I was under the assumption that this was a Judd Apatow production, seeing both Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson. I was very surprised and happy to see that Kevin Smith was the actual mastermind behind the scenes, since I have enjoyed all of his movies immensely(except for the awful sequel to Clerks).

From the first scene I knew that I was going to laugh my way through the entire film. It started off with Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks getting ready for work in their town of Pittsburgh on a blustery winter day. Something that I can relate to, being from Minnesota and suffering through many freezing winters. Within the first two minutes I had already laughed out loud more than once. I don't want to give anything away, but there is one particular scene that involves Seth Rogen and a hand warmer that had me cracking up.

PLOT

Zack and Miri have been friends since grade school and are pretty much going nowhere with their lives. They live together as roommates in an apartment that they can't afford. Zack(Seth Rogen) works at a knock-off Starbucks while Miri(Elizabeth Banks)works somewhere at the mall. They both decide to attend their 10 year reunion where they can reminisce with old friends and more importantly so that Miri can try and make something happen with her high school crush Bobby Long(Brandon Routh). While Miri is humiliatiing herself quite entertainingly, it comes out that Bobby Long is a homosexual and his partner Brandon(Justin Long) has accompanied him to the reunion. Brandon is an adult film star in all male casts and explains to Zack how he has made a handsome living for himself producing and starring in his own adult films. When Zack and Miri get back to their apartment they find that the power is out and the water has been turned off. How can they live without heat or water in the middle of the winter? They have to come up with some way to make some money, and while Zack is recalling his conversation with Brandon, he decides that the best way to make some fast cash would be to make their own porno. The rest of the movie consists of them trying to make a movie with alot of setbacks involved and some unexpected romantic sparks fly.

CAST

I thought that Seth Rogen did a great job as Zack, pretty much playing the same character he plays in every other movie he's made. Rogen and Kevin Smith are extremely funny people and I think that's why it looked so easy for him to deliver such hilarious dialogue.

I have a huge crush on Elizabeth Banks that has started since she was guest starring on Scrubs. She can do no wrong in my eyes, so I guess I'm probably not the best person to be critiquing her performance. She's irresistible in this movie and I can't think of anybody else who would do better in this role. 

Craig Robinson plays Delaney, who works with Zack at the coffee shop. You might remember him as the bouncer in Knocked Up who had a pretty small scene, but was hilarious. Or more notably as Darryl on the NBC television show The Office. This is the biggest role I've seen him do and I thought he was great. He has such a modest, dry delivery that cracks me up every time. 

Jason Mewes plays Lester who is the main guy in the porno Zack and Miri are shooting. He has teamed up with Kevin Smith many times as the fast talking, crass character Jay. I was happy to see him do a different role. He was perfect as Lester, getting to show off his butt and other parts yet again in another Smith movie. Very funny guy

Jeff Anderson plays the role of Deacon who is the camera operator for the film. He is most recognized for his work in the Clerks movies being one of the Clerks. I have always thought that he has no talent whatsoever, and must be good friends with Smith to get cast in any movie. He surprised me in this film, and managed to not ruin it for me. He has a very limited amount of dialogue, which I think is always a good thing for Jeff Anderson.

I was really excited to see Brandon Routh in another movie other than Superman. I was scared that he wouldn't be able to get cast as anything else, because how do you follow up Superman. It was great to see him play a gay man who has a hard time coming out. That's a difficult role, and I thought he was very funny and convincing. 

Justin Long is one of the funniest actors out there right now. He can play anything and having him be Brandon the gay adult film star was perfect. For the short amount of time he is actually on screen he had me cracking up several times. 

It was interesting to see actual porn stars in a real movie production. Both Katie Morgan and Traci Lords are well known members of the porn industry and I thought they both did adequate jobs. Traci Lords didn't show any skin and was pretty funny, while Katie Morgan showed alot of skin and did a mediocre job. However, there is one scene that she is in that made me laugh the hardest. Anyone who has seen this movie knows what I'm talking about.

THOUGHTS/FEELINGS

I thoroughly enjoyed Zack and Miri make a porno. I think it might be my favorite main stream Kevin Smith movie. I thought that the story was good, it didn't drag. The dialogue was ridiculously funny. Smith was able to capture brilliant performances from the entire cast. The only thing that I really didn't like about the movie was the ending. I won't spoil anything here, but it was a little too cheesy for my taste. However, I will be buying it when it comes out on dvd and would give it a 9 out of 10. Overall, a great movie, and I will be recommending it to all of my friends.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Ending