Let us face it; there can be hardly a new formula in a romantic comedy. Rest aside the classics “Before Sunrise”, “Before Sunset” and “Say Anything”. There needs to be a frame work prototype which can either made into syrupy rosy doll as the constantly failing emotional melodrama the genre provides with unbearable “27 Dresses” and “P.S. I Love you” or even in the successful raunchy genre by Apatow house of writers and actors has that predictability. It would be a test of time for the latter and hope it does not spiral down in to its former. Kevin Smith known for pushing his limits on explicit material goes for the formula in his own way. Despite some laugh out loud moments, it has a feel of happening in the world of his and comes out visiting the Hollywood arena in a sterile manner (pun unintended).It will be overdoing in summarizing the set up for a plot as the name says it all. Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) does make a porn film. The thing though is the complication in feelings that would arise after their sex scene and all ending well as the film gets over. In between those there are cursing and the cursing meaning literally and sometimes more than that and some times it is what it is. Throw in some nudity and bingo you have the film by Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith is at his prime with the Bobby Long (Brandon Routh) and Brandon (Justin Long) gay couple in the reunion scenes.
Smith is good in approaching the characters and bringing out the role of sexuality being a crucial part in a relationship. In “Chasing Amy” we see a lesbian been attracted towards a straight men and how he takes it and morphs it in different forms to have an ending to really feel ambiguous on the situation. It was funny, emotional and bold. He is bold and does not fear away from materials regardless of its sensitivity of the subject. I consider “Dogma” to be his best film till date and his second best being “Clerks” but in “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, it is all been seen (you can include the porn part too). It is too predictable of how the titular characters would feel about each other once their consummation is taken place.
Zack and Miri have grown up together and are broke now together. They are in a platonic relationship and I might take a random judgment thought on this but would not they have already discussed about it in their twenty years of friendship? I mean good friends when becoming comfortable and opening up generally discuss their intentions when they start hanging out with each other. It is tough to admit those in an acquaintance but in a friendship what Zack and Miri has it is little tough to believe their naivety in this issue.
But that is least of the concerns in a film focused on fun factor than the reasoning. I guess the anxiety of the main plot point weighs down the set up scenes considerably. If watching trailer would ruin certain films completely, the title of this film already gives out the funny sequences in it thus if the set up material does not liven up, it becomes waiting in line for ordering. Title indeed would be market value for the film but the fall back is that the failure to keep us busy in its material till we get there.
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks make great friends and also an odd but a nice couple the film wants them to be. Rogen especially surprises me. I know that he is not going anything different at all in every film. He plays Rogen in various shades as Michael Cera does but he succeeds. The average Joe is the reason for it as he can get into this regular person to be in this broke or pot smoking characters without much of a change. I am not yet bored of it and so far it is good. But he has cornered his domain and does not go out of it. Seth Rogen and Steve Carell appears to be doing the same thing but they add that one piece of an evidence to vary it from the duplicity they are getting into and that unknowingly avoids us from seeing the sameness in their roles.
I have this late feeling of staying indifferent towards lot of films. And the question arises of whether is it me going in to this mundane regularity of seeing too many films or the films off late are plainly not appealing to leave me like this. It might be me but as many might know I long for great films and nothing gives me more pleasure in praising the film than writing negative reviews. Apart from the fact that I suck in writing sarcastically, the joy of sharing a film which I fell in love with the readers and urging them to go and watch it. I am still waiting for that to happen often enough and honestly 2008 has not been that impressive. There are promising films coming up and who knows, the very next film I am going to watch “Changeling” by Clint Eastwood would do that. But for “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”, it falls in the category of raunchy version of stereotypic romantic comedies but more funny than those and less appealing as a film.
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