A Statement About Zack, Miri, and Their Porno

So this one time, I went and saw Zack & Miri Make a Porno.  I was fully prepared for the vulgarity, the rudeness and the sheer offensiveness of the whole endeavor.  I was not at all prepared for how terribly ordinary it was.

I adore obscene humor.  Or "boy humor," although I don't think it's fair that they're the only ones who should get to laugh at movies like Old School, Super Troopers, and Harold & Kumar.  The thing about each of those movies was that they were all relatively unique.  At the very least, they took an old concept and put a spin on it so that it felt new and fun.  The humor is outrageous in each, and different.

Which is where Zack & Miri falls short.  There are shocking moments, but they are not so shocking as to make the film itself stand out.  Full frontal male and female nudity (which makes it fun for everyone, not just the boys... or maybe, especially boys depending on your preference), lots of references to anal sex, gay porn, oral sex, etc., etc., etc.

And these run-of-the-mill attempts at "offending" the general public do nothing to hide the monotony of the plot.  Zack and Miri have been friends forever and live together.  Zack and Miri go to their high school reunion to judge the people who tormented them.  Zack and Miri don't know they're in love with each other until the possibility of having sex with other people comes up.  They have sex.  They get awkward.  They fight.  They separate.  They get back together.  The End.

Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks both make it watchable, at least.  Rogen doesn't act in this as much as other films (see: Superbad), but rather reprises his role from Knocked Up, another superior comedy filled with "boy humor."  Banks actually adds acting credibility to the whole affair, bringing Miri to vulerable, messy life both at the reunion (her high school crush is now out and dating a gay porn star), and in the porno shoots.  Miri's reaction to Zack going alone into his bedroom with one of their costars is particularly affecting.  It should also be noted that when Zack and Miri actually do have sex, aside from being a revelation for them, is a revelation for us; we see two people realizing for the first time, on camera in front of six other people, how they really feel about each other.  It's a brief flash of everything the film should have been.

If only the film had tried harder to be good instead of shocking.