'Zack and Miri Make a Porno'

Rating:

BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com

October 31, 2008

At a time when young Americans are baring their souls on blogs and just about everything else on viral video, it's almost quaint that writer-director Kevin Smith ("Dogma") finds shock value in the idea of two friends delving into pornography. Then again, the lead characters in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" are in their late 20s, which makes them relative geezers compared to today's generation of Internet exhibitionists. If this film were about teenagers, it might seem less like an outrageous comedy and more like a mundane slice of life.

One thing about "Zack and Miri" is ageless: It's a male fantasy. Big, dopey Zack ( Seth Rogen) and his totally hot roommate Miri (Elizabeth Banks), platonic pals since childhood, now live together in a dumpy Pittsburgh apartment. When funds run low, their water and electricity are shut off. Gee, Zack wonders, how can they raise some quick money? It's almost as good as one of those letters to Penthouse.

Miri is skeptical: Who wants to see her and Zack having sex? That's a no-brainer, Zack says: "Everybody wants to see anybody having sex!" (He uses slightly stronger language, of course.)

That's the truest and funniest line in the film, which starts out sweetly enough (Rogen and Banks are an endearing pair of misfits) but quickly curdles into gross-out humor. What's more, Smith rounds out the porn cast with real-life former adult-film star Traci Lords and the famously troubled actor Jason Mewes, both of whom fit their parts discomfitingly well.

Smith's idea of porn is sorely dated (do they still bother with scripts and stage-sets?) and so is his idea of black people (Craig Robinson and Tisha Campbell-Martin play two very ugly stereotypes). The most modern character is Brandon (Justin Long), a refreshingly guilt-free gay porn star. A more adventurous filmmaker would have made him the star.

Rated R

PLOT Two platonic friends make an amateur porn video.

CAST Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Traci Lords

LENGTH 1:41

PLAYING AT Area theaters

BOTTOM LINE Rogen and Banks are sweet together, but the film's gross humor leaves a sour taste.