Review of Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) by Chads. — 02 Nov 2008

Admit it: When it was announced that Elizabeth Banks would be starring in a movie about amateur porno, you were taken aback. There's a kid sister, or maybe it's a high school girlfriend quality about Banks, that makes us sort of uncomfortable with any impending nudity which involves her willowy cheerleader frame; she's the "homeroom angel" that Peter Wolf sings about in the J.

Geils Band hit "Centerfold". She'd be right at home on an Ivory Snow box. After Rosario Dawson reportedly dropped out from the project, the filmmaker must have quickly realized his good fortune in landing Banks.

Fresh off her role as the outgoing First Lady in Oliver Stone's "W."; the white house, like the Ivory Snow box, can be said to be a symbol of purity, making Banks a modern-day Marilyn Chambers, the star of Artie and Jim Mitchell's "Behind the Green Door"(the second-most famous "stag" film from the early-to-mid seventies).

When Zack(Seth Rogen) discourages Miri from unbuttoning her blouse during their big moment of truth, you relate with Zack's need to preserve her reputation. Perhaps Prince said it best, only as Prince can, when he sang in his princely falsetto voice, "I wanna be the only one you come for,"(from his first chart smash "I Wanna Be Your Lover"), which is, of course, Zack in a nutshell.

The irony behind the title "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" is that the two old friends are more like Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" than two old pros, or two clumsy amateurs.

Talking about "Boogie Nights", filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, quite naturally, watched a lot of adult films in preparation for his shoot, and came to the conclusion after perusing hours upon hours of bad porn, that the ultimate in method acting is for the actress to look as if she's enjoying herself, in spite of the hot lights, camera, and interested crew.

Far from porno, Zack and Miri, during their copulation, the filmmaker(Kevin Smith, that is) makes a case for the "NC-17" rating, so often confused with the "X". The "Clerks" director surreptitiously demonstrates the difference between an adult film, and a pornographic one.

The sex they have is in context with their longtime relationship. It just so happens that their simultaneous epiphanies of knowing are being filmed. "Zack and Miri Makes a Porno" cleverly references "Clerks", the no budget-indie that the MPAA treated like a porno, by slapping it with a "NC-17" rating, for language.