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<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press / The Weinstein Co  (click to enlarge) Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks star in Kevin Smith's "Zack & Miri Make a Porno."   ADVERTISEMENT   "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (2 1/2 stars) No one would really do this: Kevin Smith's profane comedy has two longtime platonic friends (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) deciding to shoot an adult film to get out of debt. Lots of funny moments, but the yuck factor is a little too high to allow for the possibility that something like this might actually happen. Rated: R, for nudity, language, subject matter. Now showing: Alderwood Mall, Everett, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Mountlake, Stanwood, Metro, Oak Tree, Oak Tree, Woodinville, Cascade Mall, Oak Harbor   Related Stories • Eight Days a Week 10/31/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, October 31, 2008 'Zach and Miri' premise is smut in the service of sweetness Two platonic friends find true love while making a porno film in the latest foul-mouthed lark from Kevin Smith. Romantic comedies always rely on some far-fetched scheme, so perhaps "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" is simply a 21st-century example of a solid tradition. But the title, of course, gives away the game. In this new comedy from "Clerks" scribe Kevin Smith, the stakes are the same as ever: true love, expressed by two people who really do love each other but just don't realize it yet. The update, in this case, involves the pornography business. Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are longtime platonic pals and housemates. The economic climate has gotten so bad that their only recourse is to shoot a porno movie, featuring themselves and a few enthusiastic recruits. I'm sure there have been stranger pretexts for screwball comedies, although offhand I can't think of any. "Zack and Miri" is based on Kevin Smith's customary brand of yin-yang screenwriting: take the filthiest, most outrageous subject matter and make sure it's in the service of a sweet-natured purpose. Even though Smith is exploring every body-part joke known to man, he is also at his corniest in "Zack and Miri"; he's a foul-mouthed provocateur with a soft center. He's also a screenwriter with a rare sense of rock-solid structure. But "Zack and Miri," despite some belly laughs, doesn't quite hold together the way some of Smith's previous goofs have. Maybe this time the subject matter brings up too many uncomfortable "Now wait a minute, would that really happen?" moments. Seth Rogen, whose status as a Judd Apatow leading man ("Knocked Up," "Pineapple Express") has turned him into the Cary Grant of arrested-adolescent movies, segues neatly into the Smith universe, and Banks is a game leading lady. Smith also has a few of his regulars around: Jeff Anderson from the "Clerks" movies, Jason Mewes from everything. Craig Robinson, a regular on "The Office," has some funny bits, and real-life porn veterans Traci Lords and Katie Morgan, add, I guess, verisimilitude. I usually enjoy the profane soliloquies Smith writes for his characters, and the way he embarrasses them (and the audience) in order to lead them to a new kind of thinking. But this time out I can't quite buy the world he offers up, the good cheer of making a porn movie among friends and strangers. Having people fall in love while shooting a porno is a zany idea in the abstract, but the yuck factor here is a little too high to completely sell it in the flesh, as it were. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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