Despite the obvious smuttiness of the title, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is one of writer/director Kevin Smith's sweetest, and most formulaic, films to date. Pushing it's 'R' rating to the limit with its combination of sexual innuendo, crude profanity and skin-on-skin action, Seth Rogen's cuddly and beardy Zack and Elizabeth Banks's bubbly and adorably inept Miri - life-long friends sharing a frozen Pittsburg appartment - are a particularly cutesy couple, and the slow realisation of their love for one another provides a nice and oddly believable romance.
Having not paid their utility bills in months due to sheer bone idleness and Zack's weakness for making ridiculous online purchases, Zack and Miri are cut off and are left to huddle next to a home-made indoor fire in their overcoats. Whilst attending their high school reunion, Miri hopes to bump uglies with her former crush, Bobby Long (Brandon Routh), but discovers that he is now gay and in a relationship with gay porn star Brandon (Justin Long - a porn name if I ever heard one). Impressed with Brandon's success, Zack suggests to Miri that they make their own porn movie in the hope of making enough money to have the lights switched back on.
At its best, Zack and Miri is very funny, with Craig Robinson's deadpan Delaney, Zack's co-worker who helps fund the project, providing the majority of the films most humorous moments. When it really should be the anti-When Harry Met Sally (1989), it misses a trick by following the rom-com gospel to a tee. Although it certainly doesn't shy away from the porn (Jason Mewes and Traci Lords get to enjoy most of that), its little more than a veil for a traditional "it was you all along!" romance. Still, even though it doesn't reach the heights of Smith's best works like Clerks (1994) and Chasing Amy (1997), there are plenty of laughs to be had for the casual audience and Smith cultists alike.
L.A.-loathing Jay Baruchel arrives at the airport to be greeted by his lifelong buddy Seth Rogen. The two go home and smoke some weed, and eventually head over to James Franco's new Hollywood mansion for an A-list party. Baruchel doesn't want to go because Jonah Hill will be there, and Jonah is apparently an arsehole. While Rogen mixes with his new Hollywood buddies, Baruchel mopes on his own and watches Craig Robinson sing 'take yo' panties off!' with Rihanna. But as Baruchel and Rogen go to the store for some munchies, beams of light suddenly start sucking people up into heaven, and the ground below them starts to open. It seems the Rapture has passed them by and the apocalypse is upon them. Holed up in Franco's mansion as demonic monsters prowl outside, they must survive starvation, Emma Watson wielding an axe, an exorcism, and most of all, an uninvited Danny McBride.
With disaster movies opening every other week these days, the vision of the apocalypse brought by Goldberg and Rogen is actually rather well done. A coked-up Michael Cera, who is previously seen receiving some oral assistance in a bathroom, is given a particularly gruesome death, while the likes of Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jason Segel and Paul Rudd are sucked into wormholes in the ground. It would seem obvious to most normal people as to what these idiots need to do to escape their predicament, but they are far too self-absorbed to realise. It's funny how aware these actors are of their public perception, and they fully embrace it. So Rogen is ribbed for playing the same guy in every movie and is practically always seen with a joint in his mouth; Franco is the robe-wearing, art-collecting 'pretentious nerd' (as McBride labels him); Hill is subtly creepy; Robinson is just an extremely nice guy; and McBride is psychotic and selfish. Baruchel, it seems, is the only 'normal' one, completely untainted by Hollywood.
But the point here is not that Hollywood is evil or that Hollywood corrupts the soul. I don't really know what it's about, but at it's centre there is the relatable story of lifelong friends that have grown apart, but are still desperately clinging onto that special bond they share. And it is this that makes the film so engrossing. The humour is as bad taste as you would expect (at one point, Franco and McBride threaten each other with ejaculation), but it's the emotional core that dilutes all the cock jokes and gives the movie such much-needed humanity. It won't be for everybody, and some of the general strangeness will go over a lot of audience's heads. Goldberg and Rogen have clearly seen far too many movies and therefore throw everything but the kitchen sink at the film, but I found this a completely unexpected joy, and an original one at that. Although it gets a bit too ridiculous at the climax, the end note will have a big part of the audience screaming with pleasure with a cameo or five by some unexpected guests.
The 1980's, it would seem, is back with a bang. Modern music is filled with synthesised melodies and dodgy outfits, fashion brought back leg-warmers (albeit briefly), big sunglasses, and tight jeans, and films have recently been taking a sentimental look back at a time when teen comedies, gory horrors and oiled-up muscle men action films ruled the roost. Yet it is a decade looked back at with as much disdain as it is warmth, pointed out by John Cusack's character Adam in Hot Tub Time Machine, as although he recognises it as the best time of his life, he states that "we had Reagan and AIDS," and exclaims "I fuckin' hated this decade!".
It seems almost pointless to draw out the plot given the film's to-the-point title, but it tells the story of three friends, Adam, who has just seen his girlfriend leave him, Lou (Rob Corddry), an alcoholic who is in hospital after an accidental suicide attempt, and Nick (Craig Robinson), who is harbouring the knowledge that his wife has cheated, and is busy pulling car keys out of dog's arses for his job. Returning to their favourite place as teenagers, the Kodiac Valley Ski Resort, with Adam's nerd nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), they find the place desolate and far from the place they remember. After a wild night of drinking in the hot tub, they wake up to find themselves transported back to the 1980's and realise they have the chance to remedy the pains from the past, as well as party like they did years ago.
In a world that releases gross-out comedies by the barrel, Hot Tub Time Machine manages to include both the sweetness of the Judd Apatow comedies of late, as well as the misogynist, bad taste teen comedies of the 1980's that saw a revival in the early 2000's thanks to American Pie (1999). Although the film wasn't quite as funny as I was hoping it to be, it does make up for this by having several appallingly distasteful, yet very funny, set-pieces, including one that sees one the group having to face performing fellatio on his friend. We would like to think that we have moved on from the homophobic, racist and sexist humour of the 80's and that we have developed a more politically correct outlook on life, but we haven't really - it's still very funny (when done right).
Chocked full of references and homages to everything 80's, this will obviously appeal more to people growing up in the era. Although my pubescent days were spent in the 90's, I still grew up around the movies, which were then still relatively modern, so I did feel a slight tinge of nostalgia (genre legends Chevy Chase - looking old as fuck - and the ever-entertaining Crispin Glover make appearances here). The movie is slightly held back by some predictable plotting, a plot twist you can see a mile away, and some gags that fail to hit the mark, but the film is well aware of its ridiculousness, embracing it's silly plot and thankfully not dwelling on the details. This is simply an excuse to have some 80's fun, and fun it certainly is.
Having not paid their utility bills in months due to sheer bone idleness and Zack's weakness for making ridiculous online purchases, Zack and Miri are cut off and are left to huddle next to a home-made indoor fire in their overcoats. Whilst attending their high school reunion, Miri hopes to bump uglies with her former crush, Bobby Long (Brandon Routh), but discovers that he is now gay and in a relationship with gay porn star Brandon (Justin Long - a porn name if I ever heard one). Impressed with Brandon's success, Zack suggests to Miri that they make their own porn movie in the hope of making enough money to have the lights switched back on.
