Shawn's Zack and Miri Make A Porno Review

2008 Movie #123 - Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I think Kevin Smith catches a lot of undeserved shit from both critics and the movie watching public. His movies may not be high art (although I might make that argument for Chasing Amy and Dogma) but they're always consistently funny and entertaining. Hell I even didn't mind Jersey Girl really. I also love his Evening with Kevin Smith DVDs. So I'm definitely a fan. Therefore I was very interested to see how his first straight comedy with original characters was going to go. In fact I would say this was one of my more anticipated movies of the year. Thankfully it didn't disappoint and can join the ranks of other really good comedies of 2008.

As I've constantly said over the year, comedies are the hardest movies to write reviews for because it really does boil down to whether it was funny or not. I did find this one very funny. Sure it's lowbrow but what the fuck do you expect? People seem surprised how dirty the comedy is, which leads me to believe they somehow made it into the theatre without knowing anything about the cast, plot, crew, and of course the name of the fucking movie itself. Yea it's dirty, but it never really feels like it went too far or is trying too hard, unlike other movies this year like fucking College.

My main concern with this movie was the relationship side of it. You knew in the second half it was going to turn a little more romantic, and I was really expecting the movie to rocket downhill when it happened. Thankfully it never did. It gets a little sappy and cliched sure, but it never crosses the line like say, Bruce Almighty where it seems to even forget it was ever a comedy in the first place. There's one moment I can think of that was a bit much, but for the most part things don't go nearly as bad as they should during this half of the movie.

The cast is top notch with not a weak link in the bunch. Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks do a great job and have actually pretty damn good chemistry together. It's believable that they could make the turn they do. The supporting cast is great. Good to see Jason Mewes playing someone other than Jay and still being very funny. I also always like seeing Jeff Anderson in a movie because he's always reliable for some good laughs. Justin Long was definitely a highlight as well. His fake voice could make just about anything he said funny.

Overall a solid comedy and one I think would stand up in repeat viewings. It's still not my favourite comedy of the year (although I don't really even know what it would be) but it's damn funny and I'm really glad it didn't let me down after the long wait for it.

****/5