Movie Review: Zack and Miri

Two lifelong platonic but desperate friends (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) decide to earn a little extra money by creating their own adult film, but they also discover that they may be more than just pals.

If you like your humor raunchy, then this is the film for you. It's pretty much no-holds-barred filthy humor from start to finish. The only real negative to that is that occasionally I felt like the filth was substituting for the humor, with no real joke to be found, just the shock. At times this is funny but over the course of 100 minutes it starts to wear off. That's not to say at all that I still didn't get a lot of good laughs from this enjoyable movie.

Somehow, director Kevin Smith has disguised this chick flick as a film that will be more remembered for penis and toilet humor, much like Knocked Up or Superbad. The strength isn't really the script though but the characters and actors. With a team like Seth Rogen, Jason Mewes and my favorite Craig Robinson in major roles, there's bound to plenty of laughs from lines that feel like they were primarily ad-libbed and they didn't let me down. The supporting cast features great people like the hilarious Tisha Campbell-Martin and 2 guys playing a gay couple, Brandon Routh and Justin Long, that were sensational.

Negatives? Well, at least 1 scene was almost a bit too gross for even me. Also I can't help but shake my head at Seth Rogen, playing a fat, disgusting, foul loser once again landing a super hot woman (also see Knocked Up). So in 2 films his character's love interests have been Elizabeth Bansk and Katherine Heigl? Gimme a break already. He looks like his smell alone would keep them at a distance.

But all-in-all this is a fun film with a lot of laughs. Not long ago this probably would have garnered an X-rating. The MPAA says of this movie: Rated R on appeal for strong crude sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity and pervasive language. Yep, that sums it up.

So it's romantic, believe it or not, yet still raunchy as it can be and still be rated R. Let's call it "romantic raunch".

Quickies:

* No, Elizabeth Banks doesn't get naked dammit.

* No, Seth Rogen doesn't get naked thankfully. (you will see his big ole butt though)

* There is a scene after the credits that's great and worth staying around for.

7/10