Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Director: Kevin Smith
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 0.0

Oh, how far Kevin manages to keep falling. His career started with a charming, crude cult classic mined from his own experience as a convenience store employee and from that he's managed to stretch his 'fame' out well past its expiration date because of a combination of genuine wit, a love of geek-chic (comic books, action figures) and Internet marketing/interaction. Now he's turning out rancid, witless embarrassments, this one being even more abominable than Mallrats. Poor (and extremely unlikely) roommates Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks cannot make rent (or cover the utilities) with their slum-jobs, so they come to the realization any other American partnership would: they need to make a video of themselves having sex, despite their never having slept together before. What miniscule amount of interest in this comes from Rogan and Banks not figuring out that they're destined to be together, forcing the audience to endure ninety minutes of desperate stabs at humor: you have your dick jokes, your shit jokes, your pegging gag, your pissed off Black Guy jokes, your gay jokes … yeah, you can tell Kevin's evolving. Being potty-mouthed and throwing the f-word around is rarely funny in itself - unless you're in the picture's 10-14 year-old demographic - and only to Kevin Smith do women respond positively to a request like "Can you jerk me off in the locker room?" or laugh when you rub things on your testicles or talk about your own waste. Rarely do I ever pity professional movie actresses - they are paid well and are informed ahead of time what's required of them - but I winced for Banks; pudgy Rogan, on the other hand, in his permanent pot-haze, earns mostly disdain. Like Mr. Smith, his hollowness is becoming more and more evident with every screen appearance.