The most recent Kevin Smith installment stars Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks as Zack and Miri. These long-time friends, and roommates, are a little bit down on their luck. They are having trouble paying the bills, but aren't having problems paying for new sex toys. When they get their water and power turned off they decide it is time to take action. A chance meeting with a gay porn star played by Justin Long inspires Zack to make his own porno movie to make some cash. Zach & Miri have always been good friends, and never romantically involved with one another. Of course, the porn is going to require them to sleep together, bringing out all these suppressed feelings they have been holding inside. I am sure you can figure out the rest. I don't know how I feel about Kevin Smith. I liked Jay & Silent Bob, and Mallrats, but I definitely wouldn't call myself one of his fans. For some reason I had high hopes going into Zach & Miri. I heard really good reviews, and I like Rogan, so I thought for sure I would like it. At the beginning of the film, I did like it. I it is little "raw", but I found it pretty funny at the beginning. The scene with Justin Long was very funny, by far the best part of the entire movie. I don't especially like Justin Long, but he was very good in this small part. Then we come to the part where they decide to make a porno. For me, the movie started falling apart around this time. I knew this movie would be raunchy, which is fine. I also expected it to push the envelope and present some situations that haven't been done before. Instead, I got a totally formulaic love story, with lots of bad language and nudity. Then at the end it was overly sweet to the point of being totally cheesy. I was really disappointed with it.
The acting in this movie was marginal at best. Rogan did a pretty good job, I felt his character was the most believable in this somewhat ridiculous movie. Elizabeth Banks was great at the beginning of the film. I loved when she was on screen. Then she totally stops talking and doesn't even seem to be in the film for much of the ending. I really didn't like how big of a change her character seemed to go through. I understand that she is dealing with feelings of confusion, anger, or jealousy... that that doesn't mean she has to totally lose the personality her character had. I thought Banks and Rogan had really good chemistry when they were being friends, but I just never bought them as lovers. It just wasn't there, and towards the end of the movie their relationship felt totally bogus. I also thought some of the situations in the movie were very odd. Zack is totally crude and will say or do anything. He obviously doesn't care what other people think of him at all. Then when it is his time to do his movie scene he completely changes into some dork who is very bad at acting, even for a porno. It was really out of character. I realize that he is supposed to be nervous about finally sleeping with his long-time friend that he has secretly been in love with. But seriously, is he really going to act that stupid about it. I mean, he was the one who was all about doing the porno in the first place, you would think he would be a little more 'professional' about it. Anyway, I digress... I would say the rest of the acting in this movie was border-line horrible. For me it got pretty annoying towards the end. Jason Mewes, who plays Jay in most Smith movies, did a really good job. His character was actually pretty funny. Everybody else was just bad. The dude from Clerks wasn't great, and Craig Robinson from The Office was just kinda bad. The rest of the porno cast was just horrible.
The biggest problem I had with this movie is how predictable and boring this story was. I felt like I had seen this movie before, just with a lot less cussing. I don't know what I was expecting, but I thought Smith might have a new interesting take on the "friends to lovers" story. Maybe I had too high of expectations. I had a real problem with how corny things got at the end. I felt like I was watching a totally different movie. Everything was just so sweet and... stupid. I really didn't like it. This movie does have some funny parts, but there were a lot of jokes that didn't work. I might recommend that you watch the first part of this movie, then just turn it off, but that isn't realistic. I will probably have to say skip this one to most people, but you can make your own decision if you want to watch it or not.
~ I would probably give this movie 1.5 stars, but that would be pushing it. I had high expectations that were definitely not met. Chances are you will like it better than me, it seems that most people do.
-deric
The acting in this movie was marginal at best. Rogan did a pretty good job, I felt his character was the most believable in this somewhat ridiculous movie. Elizabeth Banks was great at the beginning of the film. I loved when she was on screen. Then she totally stops talking and doesn't even seem to be in the film for much of the ending. I really didn't like how big of a change her character seemed to go through. I understand that she is dealing with feelings of confusion, anger, or jealousy... that that doesn't mean she has to totally lose the personality her character had. I thought Banks and Rogan had really good chemistry when they were being friends, but I just never bought them as lovers. It just wasn't there, and towards the end of the movie their relationship felt totally bogus. I also thought some of the situations in the movie were very odd. Zack is totally crude and will say or do anything. He obviously doesn't care what other people think of him at all. Then when it is his time to do his movie scene he completely changes into some dork who is very bad at acting, even for a porno. It was really out of character. I realize that he is supposed to be nervous about finally sleeping with his long-time friend that he has secretly been in love with. But seriously, is he really going to act that stupid about it. I mean, he was the one who was all about doing the porno in the first place, you would think he would be a little more 'professional' about it. Anyway, I digress... I would say the rest of the acting in this movie was border-line horrible. For me it got pretty annoying towards the end. Jason Mewes, who plays Jay in most Smith movies, did a really good job. His character was actually pretty funny. Everybody else was just bad. The dude from Clerks wasn't great, and Craig Robinson from The Office was just kinda bad. The rest of the porno cast was just horrible.
The biggest problem I had with this movie is how predictable and boring this story was. I felt like I had seen this movie before, just with a lot less cussing. I don't know what I was expecting, but I thought Smith might have a new interesting take on the "friends to lovers" story. Maybe I had too high of expectations. I had a real problem with how corny things got at the end. I felt like I was watching a totally different movie. Everything was just so sweet and... stupid. I really didn't like it. This movie does have some funny parts, but there were a lot of jokes that didn't work. I might recommend that you watch the first part of this movie, then just turn it off, but that isn't realistic. I will probably have to say skip this one to most people, but you can make your own decision if you want to watch it or not.
~ I would probably give this movie 1.5 stars, but that would be pushing it. I had high expectations that were definitely not met. Chances are you will like it better than me, it seems that most people do.
-deric
Filed Under: Comedy