Writer/director Kevin Smith must be just as fed up with modern romantic comedies as the rest of us.
So he implodes the formula with his latest raunch-fest, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”
The results aren’t pretty.
Smith’s adolescent humor is starting to wilt from extended exposure, and the romance requires blind faith. But “Zack and Miri” has Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks front and center, and even shlockmeister Uwe Boll would be hard pressed to bungle a film starring these two.
Rogen and Banks play two platonic buds whose collective bank account is running on empty. When the power and water companies shut off their apartment’s utilities, they decide to shoot an adult movie to raise some quick cash.
Oh, and they’ll star in the movie’s “action” scenes.
Their amateurish attempts at filmmaking poke fun at both the adult video industry as well as every other Kate Hudson rom-com – two juicy, well-deserving targets.
Somewhere between “action” and “Cut” the two realize they may have feelings for each other.
It’s impossible not to laugh at the vulgar theatrics, and a strong supporting cast including “Clerks” stalwart Jeff Anderson and “The Office’s” Craig Robinson keeps the mood lively.
But Smith’s ability to write a convincing romance between Zack and Miri requires every ounce of good will the lead actors can generate, and many scenes aren’t nearly as funny as the filmmaker likely thinks they are.
Smith’s body of work mirrors that of Judd Apatow’s in more ways than one. But Apatow remains the king of the hard-R comedy with a heart, even if Smith beat him to the scene by a half dozen years.
(Photo: Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks play pals who decide to shoot an adult movie when their bank accounts hit zero in “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”)
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
No wonder I’m getting sick of Seth … in the past two years, he’s been in 10 flicks (including v.o. work) and has four more in production … I’m starting to see him in my sleep.
Another thing Seth and the Beguiling Miss Banks have in common. They star in virtually every other movie. Striking while the iron is hot, or making audiences sick of them in no time?