Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.
REVIEW:
When Harry Met Sally + Boogie Nights = Zack and Miri Make a Porno, but without any content, laughs, emotional engaging moments, character development, an actual theme that says something, a plot, people you care about, a cinematic experience etc...
I almost pulled an Ebert in this film because I wanted to walk about about 10 minutes in as it was just extremely difficult to watch. I hated everything about this film: the people in it, the amateur way it was shot, the plot setups. But I stayed and watched all the way though and even sat through the entire credit sequence (BTW: If you're a fan of the film, stay until the end as there is more to come 5 minutes in) as I wanted to see who was a part of the worst film of 2008.
I hated almost everything about Zack and Miri Make a Porno and I generally like Kevin Smith films. I think Chasing Amy and Dogma are two very underrated 90's movies and are two must see films. I even thought the critically and commercially panned Jersey Girl had a lot of good moments in it. Kevin Smith has an art in creating the misfit character that audiences like to root for. And he's a really great dialogue writer. Or was a great dialogue writer. Now he's resorted to writing pathetic characters who talk even more pathetically.
This is the era of the antagonistic main characters, but there is a definite line. We must like a character for a skill or trait they have that's interesting and engaging. The character of Zack in Zack and Miri Make a Porno is perhaps the biggest loser in the history of cinema. A loser that you don't root for because he is that much of a loser.
The plot of Zack and Miri Make a Porno is filled with cliches. A slacker who's done nothing with his life finally decides to do something. How many times do we have to see this? That plot should be outlawed to be shown at any cinema around the world.
I so wished that Kevin Smith made the film about Miri and not Zack. Miri (Elizabeth Banks) is the interesting character we truly never get to know as they focused more on Zack (who easily could be Kevin Smith if Kevin Smith didn't become Kevin Smith!) and his emotional arcs. How did Miri end up where she is? How did things get so tough that she must make a Porno movie? And why the hell is she hanging around Zack? Which leads to why in the hell would this girl begin (or always had) to have feelings for Zack?
This is a very uncomfortable film to watch because it's just not funny. Kevin Smith has lost it. I tried watching Clerks 2 before seeing this film and I couldn't make it through to the end. Clerks 2 and Zack and Miri Make a Porno are just insulting films filled with people you avoid in real life and the ending is so obvious, you don't even watch it to find out what happens next.
And of course Smith brings on his acting posse (Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson) who are such underdeveloped actors, there is no way they could possibly get a role in any other film besides Smith's. Not that they have much to work with. The 'porno' posse of Zack and Miri are characters we never get to know and who's only comedic roles in the film are to be naked and get literally shit on. Good old fashioned garbage humor!
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