OK this wasn't Ingmar Bergman... lol I'm no film snob. I'll give any movie a fair try. For starters I didn't buy or rent this movie. My son bought it and I read some decent reviews of it so we decided to watch this comedy instead of more typical Bergman Nordic doom & gloom. Actually Bergman has made a few comedies but that's for a later review. Anyway let's talk about this opus from director Kevin Smith.
Smith has made offbeat crude comedies and one nice movie called Jersey Girl with Ben Afleck. Dogma angered churchgoers and is worth a view. Zack & Miri combines the best and worst traits of them. The sex jokes are his usual infantile brand that provoke more smiles than belly laughs. The premise here is about two friends of the opposite sex from high school and who live together in a dumpy apartment. Faced with utility shutoffs and eviction, they decide to earn needed money by making a porn flick. That's easier said than done as they team up with some oddball characters to create their opus. Along the way the main characters learn they really love each other and want to bring their friendship to a higher level. But you can see this coming too early in the plot.
How much porn is here? Not much since the movie has a 'R' rating and it's mainly due to the language that makes you cringe or laugh. There's five bad jokes for every single one, possibly more depending on your sensitivity. Seth Rogan is fine as Zack with a sweet side hidden under his potty mouth and Elizabeth Banks, so good as Laura Bush in W, is almost too sweet as Miri and not a role worthy of her but she does win you over. I thought the funniest part was their high school reunion where she hits on Brandon Routh (our recent movie Superman) a former classmate who is revealed to be a gay porn star uncloseted by his lover Justin Long of Die Hard 4 fame. Tracie Lords, a former porn star, is wasted here as with other Smith regulars.
Let's just say the movie's title was more promising than what the plot delivered and the middle section dragged a bit. I can't complain because it cost me nothing to watch this except my time. This was a two disc set but I declined watching the extras.
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