Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Elizabeth Banks is nothing to go crazy over but she is OK looking. There were some beauties in the movie though, they were not her. This movie was funny, it was about two losers that knew each other from childhood who ended up being roommates together. They live in a dump, spend their time thinking about inane subjects and waste their money. Seth Rogen is the male friend and is just on a role. Though his movies are pretty disgusting, nothing I would recommend to my mother.

This movie was sort of a copy of Bowfinger with Steve Martin and the gorgeous Heather Graham. About a bunch of regular folks, some dirt poor who want to finance a movie to enrich themselves. The reason Banks and Rogen want to make a porno are not for altruistic purposes, they need the money. But the extra income will not make them any more intelligent or financially astute. Rogen's character does not pay the electric bill but he waste's money on ridiculous objects like sex toys and the like.

The electricty is turned off and this forces Rogen and Banks to take some drastic measures. The decide to shoot a porno. Up to this point they have been friends, but they slowly fall for each other.

Craig Robinson is Rogen's co worker at a small coffee shop and he is hilarious. He has some funny lines, he provides the black comedy and attitude that I think is hilarious. His wife is hilarious and when she screams at Rogen and calls him "white boy" that is outragious. Robinson and his nasty wife, their intense but insulting conversation in that scene is just complete hilarity. Apparently his character settled with the post office and he took in $160,000. None of this is really explained deeply, the viewer is just supposed to log all of this and nod on. Too bad his ferocious and pit bull wife is in charge of spending it all.

This movie is not really unique, it is similiar to Bowfinger and the relationship struggle between Rogen and Banks has been done before. The movie is decent, nothing special. It is not Pineapple Express, Rogen's other movie of this year and that was the funniest movie of the year. Burn After Reading was up there as well with it's creativity and casting.

Justin Long makes a funny but nasty cameo appearance. It is what he says is disturbing. He has not done much since starring with the superstar Bruce Willis in the pretty good Die Hard IV. Long is in the same scene as Superman-Brandon Routh. This sequence is sort of funny, but these lines have been heard and how much gay comedy or scenes can we take? Most people are not gay but Hollywood believes about quarter of us are since that is how many gay character's or innuendoes are tossed into movies.

Rogen probably should have said what he really felt along time ago but that can be said about many of us. But I am not sure why he did not complete the movie. That was unprofessional and sloppy. He just drove off, quit his job, weird. He is right, he is the biggest wimp. He flaked out on his employees who he actively recruited and hired. Strange behavior. Almost unforgiveable. This detracts from the movie. Why did he leave the movie because he had an argument with Banks, his obvious love interest? Leaving did not solve his money problems and he probably slept a couple of nights, or weeks in that piece of junk car he drove around.

The ending was terribly weak. Banks and Rogen agree they should be together which was predictable. The movie is not really completed, there is not any conclusion to this. What will Banks and Rogen work and live? This is not explained. This movie needed another 5 minutes and could actually be somewhat good with a better ending. Funny, the porno flick they were working on did not have an ending, in fact, it had only 3 scenes, there was not even a dorky or pathetic plot. There was not any story line at all. The movie within a movie needen an ending as much as the real movie did. Just goofy, the title does not stick. They never made a porno, the appropriate title should be: Zack and Miri Start a Porno.

This movie was not horrendous though, nothing like Nicholas Cage's Wicker Man. It is allocated one star. *