Zack and Miri Make A....Love Story?

Release Date 10.31.08


The newest progeny from the astounding mind of Kevin Smith is a raunchy sex comedy that features Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jay, that warehouse guy from ‘The Office” (you know, ‘Darrell’), hockey jock Jeff Anderson, porn greats Traci Lords and Katie Morgan guest star, with special appearances by Brandon Routh as gorgeous football stud Bobby Long (innuendo for something?) and Justin Long as his gay lover.

Roomates Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks), best friends since the 1st grade, work their tedious lives at the mall and a generic coffee shop. In the dead of winter, in Pittsburg no less, the pair lose their water, then their electric, and ultimately their heating. On the night of their 10th high school reunion, miserable and broke, they drink away their sorrows on the last couple of bucks between them, and brainstorm the possibility of making a cheap porno to distribute themselves, in the hopes of reaping all the benefits and just being able to pay rent.

After recruiting co-workers and friends as cast members, ‘Star Whores’ is born and destroyed all within the same breath. Having lost all their funding and equipment they resort to using the Bean And Gone as the platform for the plotless plot as well as the set. Zack and Miri having never been intimate are deathly nervous of their one scene together. All seems hopeless as the two attempt to convince each other it’s just sex, but then lose themselves in the moment realizing their love for one another while the camera rolls. Of course mixed emotions result, and this is the point where Kevin Smith seems to have lost his focus.

The dialogue follows the Appatow formula for honest ramblings and modern diction, and the on-screen chemistry amongst the entire cast was fantastic, superb even, but once the story turned mushy I felt Smith was out of his element. Miscommunication results after the tender love scene, fueling the last quarter of the film with ‘he said she said’ grumblings and I was confused as to what the actual problem was. Obviously they loved each other but couldn’t tell each other – why? Fear of ruining the friendship? But the couple knew every embarrassing detail about each other, so why would three little worlds throw all of that out the window?

Smith tries to both rub our faces in the tawdriness and to erase it altogether at the same time. The movie campaigns that pornography is a jolly, mild pastime, but also takes refuge with a sincere, romantic traditional quality that is antithetical to the cynical, often playful sexual culture of pornography itself. Kevin Smith intends to make a love story, which is contradictory to the film Zack and Miri set out to produce. All in all I would say the film was excellent, but not for those with innocent ears or anyone over 30.


Rating: A-