Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes, Katie Morgan, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, Ricky Mabe, Justin Long, Brandon Routh, Tisha Campbell-Martin. [R]

After finding themselves in dire financial straits and on the verge of being evicted, lifelong platonic best friends/roommates Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) hatch a plan to make some quick cash by writing, directing, and starring in a micro-budget adult film. But will “doing the deed” on camera make a mess out of their comfortable relationship? Writer/director Smith gleefully goes the Judd Apatow route, leavening the expected foul-mouthed raunchiness with hearty helpings of sweetness and heart (Smith even admits that he borrowed a page out of When Harry Met Sally for the finale). Making whoopee is hysterical in this world, but discovering love is quite serious; combine the two, and, well… Suffers from a number of jokes that fizzle for trying too hard to be shocking, smutty, and/or gross, and it would have benefited from breaking from the constraints of formula down the stretch, but any fan of Smith’s (or, for that matter, Apatow’s) should have an obscenely good time. Supporting cast includes a couple View Askewniverse regulars (Mewes, Anderson) and a pair with plenty of pornographic movies on their actual résumés (Morgan, Lords).

70/100