Zack and Miri Make a Porno

First appearing in the public eye in the short-lived but much-loved Freaks and Geeks, Seth Rogen has perfected the role of the stoner, lazy, pretty regular guy. In doing so, he has basically split audiences right down the middle. Do you love his sarcastic, sometimes spastic delivery? Or does it drive you nuts, making you hate him for trying so hard but not getting laughs? I lean more toward the love. A different brand of humor, one on display in 2008's Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Friends since they were in the first grade together, Miri (Elizabeth Banks) and Zack (Rogen) have fallen on some especially tough times. Sharing an apartment together, the platonic friends don't have enough money to pay for any of their bills, and the next month's rent is due right around the corner. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Zack has a plan. What if they starred, produced and directed in their own self-made porno and sold it to all the people from their graduating class in high school? With no real other options, Miri agrees so Zack assembles a ragtag bunch of performers and crew to film their lowest of budget pornos. Could the plan actually work?

Now let's spell things out. An R-rated comedy from generally pretty filthy director Kevin Smith about the filming of an amateur porn. If you haven't figured it out by now, this movie is downright filthy. The squeamish or shy need not seek this movie out. It still manages to be low-key and on a smaller scale. Much of the humor -- with an improvised feeling -- comes from Rogen and Banks simply riffing back and forth trying to come up with a name for their porn. Their original choice is a Star Wars knock-off, the aptly titled 'Star Whores' with lots of potential for sequels, but things out of their control force them to improvise. Think about it. Take a movie, any movie, and try to come up with a play on words, dirty version of that title. It's easier than you think.

Playing the title characters, Rogen and Banks were great choices to play the longtime platonic friends who haven't done quite what they wanted to in the 10 years since high school graduation. Chemistry in a comedy can be a forgotten thing left along the roadside, but Smith made two wise choices picking this duo. Obviously for one, it helps that they're funny. Rogen as Zack has his big outbursts, his over the top antics, but I've always thought Rogen is better when he's underplaying a scene with a casual, even quiet delivery. Banks too is one of the best comedic actresses around, fully capable of holding her own with the guys, even when things get pretty filthy. The funny aspect is a given -- a true must if a comedy wants to succeed -- but even when the story gets a tad on the serious side, Rogen and Banks have that easy-going banter that speaks to a long friendship with very little in the way of secrets.

Their cast and crew provides some of the other biggest laughs, starting with Craig Robinson as Delaney, Zack's co-worker at a coffee shop who bankrolls the porn in hopes of getting to see any naked woman other than his wife. Robinson is one of the funniest actors around, and he doesn't disappoint in this supporting part. There's also Smith regulars Jeff Anderson (Randal in Clerks) as Deacon, the cameraman, and Jason Mewes (Jay) as Lester, a regular guy with a "big" talent. Actual porn star Katie Morgan plays Stacey, a strip club waitress turned porn star, infamous porn star Traci Lords plays Bubbles, a stripper specializing in bachelor parties, and Ricky Mabe as Barry, a classically trained actor who finds a niche in the cast. Stealing every scene he's in, Justin Long plays Brandon St. Randy, a gay porn star Zack meets at a high school reunion, giving them the idea for his own porn production.

The best laughs to come from the actual production of Zack and Miri's porno, a story-less sequence of sex scenes set in the coffee house Zack and Delaney work in. Zack "writes" a script with some hilariously awkward lines -- delivered awkwardly and often like they're being read aloud -- and situations developing. Mewes and Morgan have one of the most clumsy dialogue scenes ever producing some great laughs, but it's Rogen and Miri's scene that had the biggest laughs. Zack's delivery man is delivering some cream to Miri's coffee house, and let the double entendres begin! The failed Star Whores plot delivers too, the cast questioning if Luke and Leia should sleep together, if Darth Vader can be a girl, and should Obi-Wan-Kenobi get some action.

The movie is genuinely funny from the get-go, and I liked it and will be recommending it. However, the last 30 minutes taps the brakes some as Zack and Miri struggle with feelings for each other they didn't know they had. It's not exactly a surprising twist in the story, but it sure is slow-moving. More than a little predictable, it's just not as funny as the first 70 minutes. Still worth checking out, but not the ending you're looking for.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno <---trailer (2008): ** 1/2 /****