There are certain things we’ve come to expect from Kevin Smith films, as he’s always made it clear that he’s comfortable with his own formula. Typically, we can foretell that his characters would have some nerdy fixation to either comic books or movies, and that at some point the plot would come to a grinding halt to make way for geek dialogue. That expectation in mind, it’s nice to see Smith put the brakes on those tendencies in Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the second movie of his after Jersey Girl to break free of his own created universe of interconnecting films.
The title is as self-explanatory as they come, and obviously meant to bait attention. Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are platonic childhood friends sharing an apartment together as they shuffle through a minimum wage life of unpaid bills and uncertain futures. After attending their high school reunion the night before Thanksgiving and realizing that they’ve accomplished nothing since graduating, Zack and Miri return to their apartment to find the water and power cut off due to months of no payment. Having no other options, they decide to make a porn film, hoping to pay off their debts and get a fresh start on life.
Obviously, they don’t have much in the way of logic—either that or they’ve never heard of the Amateur Porn genre—because their first thought is to do an elaborate Sci-Fi parody porn with professional gear and fancy props. Whatever happened to a bed, two naked people and a nightvision camera? That’s all fluff, though, since Kevin Smith didn’t set out to make a movie about pornos or even a story about the people who turn to them. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is much more of a sequel to Clerks than Clerks 2 could ever hope to be; not only spiritually but also pragmatically. If Clerks was all about the banality and soul-sucking routine of being stuck in a clerical cul-de-sac, Zack and Miri is the continuation, where you have to do something drastic to pull yourself out. In real life, Kevin Smith broke free out of his by writing and directing Clerks. In Zack and Miri, Zack breaks free by writing and directing a porno. Mirroring Smith’s own experience, Zack also uses his workplace as his movie’s backdrop, and employs friends as his cast and crew. What the premise really comes down to is a revisiting, fairly autobiographically, that feeling of being trapped in a dead end job and having to find the creative outlet to motivate oneself.
The film adopts the talky humor that Kevin Smith does best, the way Clerks was predominantly written in, rather than doing the outrageous(ly lame) slapstick and shock gags he’d unsuccessfully tried—stuff like the donkey show in Clerks 2, the turd monster in Dogma, or pretty much the entirety of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back—although this film does have one gross-out scene that tops them all. Mostly, it’s people saying funny lines and discussing filthy topics—the way a Kevin Smith film ought to be—but mercifully without the up-to-date fanboy references that would appear dated a year after release (and weren’t particularly clever to begin with). That means conversations that actually move the plot along instead of side-talks about a Transformers movie still in production or a Lord of the Rings debate that sounds cribbed from the internet.
Seth Rogen works best when he ad-libs with his usual Apatow crew, but if he has to stick to a script, there’s probably no other writer best suited for his style of delivery than Smith’s mouthful and profanity-laden dialogue. The supporting cast is even better, from the adorably fearless Banks to the scene-stealing comic timing of Craig Robinson. Kevin’s regulars Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes are back, this time able to not rehash Randall and Jay yet again. Also, hey, a really funny (and different) performance by Justin Long!
Low-key and more than a little romantic, Zack and Miri tells stories about the modern idle youth in the state of lazy arrested development that Smith understands and knows the language of. It’s a story that doesn’t reach too high, but feels sincere. At the very least, this movie is Kevin Smith’s most thematically authentic work since Clerks. What it truly is, though, is Kevin Smith’s best work to date.
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