Review: Zach and Miri Make a Porno

Kevin Smith has done it again. I really can't find enough words to impart how deeply I loved "Zach and Miri Make a Porno." Granted, "Clerks" is the reason I've become a complete film geek, and why I'm writing here, and why so many other things, but this film is for anybody who ever doubted Smith's talents as a filmmakers because of his vulgarity, his low-fi production or anything else.

The film is the story of Zach (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks), platonic best friends and roommates. They're three months behind on all their bills, because of Zach's habits of buying things like ice skates and Fleshlights with his paychecks. If you don't know what a Fleshlight is, Google it, it'll make you laugh; just don't do it at work. Eventually, their power is turned off in their apartment, and they realize that if they don't find a way to make money, they'll be homeless. Zach finds inspiration at their high school reunion, when he meets Brandon (Justin Long, in a showstopping cameo), an adult film star who stars in such all-male fare as "Shut Your Mouth Before I Fuck It."

Zach gets the idea to make a porn movie and sell it to their old high school classmates, and he enlists not only Miri, but his coworker and friend Delaney (Craig Robinson), as well as a host of locals, including Lester (Jason Mewes), Deacon (Jeff Anderson, another Smith regular) and Stacey (real-life porn star Katie Morgan). After some hilarious misunderstandings, Zach ends up filming the movie in the coffee shop he works in after hours. However, when it comes time to film his scene with Miri, they are both forced to wonder exactly what having sex will do to their friendship.

From there, the film goes to some wonderful places that I can't give away here. Suffice it to say that it might just be the most deeply, unabashedly romantic film of 2008, even though it involves a fecal explosion as a major third-act plot point. In the vein of Smith's other films, much is said about the power of sex to change the dynamic between friends and lovers forever. Rogen is fantastic as always as Zach, but the real surprise here is Banks, who started as the hot chick in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and went on to do a bunch of other hot chick roles, before most recently playing Laura Bush in "W." The role of Miri was originally written for Rosario Dawson, but when she backed out, Rogen personally recommended Banks. She plays Miri as every guy's dream girl, with pinup looks and an X-rated vocabulary, but when the plot turns more dramatic, she's absolutely heartbreaking; there is a scene where she coldly informs Zach that sex is just sex, and when he responds, the look on her face is that of somebody who just gambled their entire world and lost.

The film was met with a bit of controversy, as Smith's often are, but it was regrettably passed over. This is a shame, because it's funny, heartwarming and easily one of the year's best films. Look for this on my year-end Top 10.