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Zack and Miri Make a Porno
The Weinstein Company


7.1

based on 33 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 66 votes
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MPAA RATING: R on appeal for strong crude sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity and pervasive language

Starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Katie Morgan, Ricky Mabe, Jeff Anderson, and Jason Mewes

Lifelong friends and roommates Zack and Miri are facing hard times and a mountain of debt. When the electricity and plumbing get cut off, they seize upon the idea of making a homegrown porno movie for some quick cash, enlisting the help of their friends. The two vow that having sex will not ruin their friendship. But as filming begins, what started out as a business proposition between friends turns into something much more. (The Weinstein Company)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Kevin Smith
DIRECTED BY:	Kevin Smith
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: October 31, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	102 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Smith gives the appearance of wanting to provoke, but along with his smuttiness, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Zack and Miri has a bright, chipper look to it, thanks to cinematographer Dave Klein, a frequent Smith colleague. Wintertime in Pittsburgh never looked so good.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks make a lovable couple; she's pretty and goes one-for-one on the bleep language, and Rogen, how can I say this, is growing on me, the big lug.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Naughty and nice is a killer-hard combo to pull off. Stick with Rogen and Banks. They rock it.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

For two-thirds of its running length, Zack and Miri is vintage Smith - profane humor that knows no boundaries and obeys no rules. What's most amazing about Smith's barrage of hard-R jokes isn't the range of subjects he covers, but how few of them "miss."

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The film is clumsily unfunny at times--particularly when Smith makes tone-deaf efforts at gay-and black-themed comedy--and it's occasionally gross just for the sake of being gross.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Along with the awkward romantic exchanges that always seem to find their way into Smith's movies, there's also a sweetness that you don't often see in films that average multiple f-words per minute.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

As in many of Smith's earlier movies, the moments of ostensibly genuine emotion aren't nearly as convincing as the moments of juvenile obscenity and quasi-homophobia.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The funniest movie of Smith's I've seen. It's "When Harry Did Sally."

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Smith's funniest, sharpest and most polished movie to date. It also is his most mature and emotionally engaging picture, even if it happens to contain one of the grossest sight gags I've ever encountered in a mainstream Hollywood film.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The mainstream acceptance of porn has also disarmed Smith's formerly outrageous humor, though there's a warm "Boogie Nights"-style vibe to the little family of oddballs Zack and Miri recruit to help them.

Variety Todd McCarthy

It would be too much to say that what Smith has come up with here is inspired, but it is pretty funny and very energetic.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Zack and Miri is funny, and Rogen is a natural as Smith's alter-ego, spewing profane dialogue like he was born to it.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Rudely silly rather than transgressively shocking, Zack and Miri is the sort of bawdy but fundamentally decent farce you could take Grandma to, provided Grandma were familiar with the oeuvre of Traci Lords.

TV Guide Perry Seibert

Zack & Miri stand out as Kevin Smith's most thoroughly representative film -- both for better and for worse.

Empire Simon Crook

Crude, hilarious, if a little corny, Smith's latest hardcore comedy is right on the money shot.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Despite shortcomings and implausibility linked to their roles as written, Rogen and Banks come off with surprising charm and grace.

Time Richard Corliss

Romantic comedies often make do on flimsy premises, but this one is thinner than Kate Moss and nuttier than an Almond Joy.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

The movie's front-loaded with puerile, junior high humor (and, admittedly, several laugh out loud moments), which is fine, but all this still followed by an increasingly awkward and clichéd third act.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

The biggest titters at a recent preview screening came during a scene in which Mewes shows off his dick--as though, at last! Still, how Jason Segal of him. Does Apatow always get there first?

Slate Dana Stevens

This movie could have been an effervescent neo-screwball romance, "Bringing Up Baby" with nut-sack jokes. So there's no blaming the subject matter for the fact that Zack and Miri feels so dispiritingly graceless.

Washington Post Neely Tucker

This was originally rated NC-17, and somehow, I'm thinking that version will survive on DVD.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Longs to be a smutty film with a heart of gold. Instead, it's a funny concept whose execution does not live up to its potential.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

By the halfway mark, Rogen's performance, like his voice, is less cuddly than grating, and the carbonated giggle that is Elizabeth Banks grows flat. This one's for the Smith cultists.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

In spite of its sometimes tiresome, sometimes amusing lewdness, follows a gee-whiz romantic-comedy formula that would not be out of place on the Disney Channel.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The moments when "Z&M" works are, almost without exception, the ones that are more sweet than shocking. All the rest, frankly, feel like Apatow Lite.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Like a lot of things about Zack and Miri, the porn title feels like it's trying too hard.

The New Yorker David Denby

Kevin Smith turns out to be reverent after all: he wants to separate true love from mere copulating for money, but his story mixes romance and porn so inextricably that he seems confused, and the movie trips over its own conceits.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A Smith production is always noisy, shambling, and liberally smutty on the outside while conservatively gooey on the inside.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

It's written and directed by Kevin Smith--and hats off to him for being savvy enough to go for a piece of the Apatow action! Too bad he doesn't rise to the occasion.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The jokes are forced, almost mechanical, in their crudeness.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's really dumb, even though it starts promisingly and continues, in a self-infatuated way, to consider itself quite bright.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Smith appears to have poured his creative energy into the cheerful come-on of the title and left nothing in reserve for the movie. He fails to wring any memorable comedy from shoestring porno filmmakers because his own filmmaking is just as amateurish and slovenly.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 66 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Aron J. gave it a4:
I'm quite a fan of smith, as well as rogan, but in honesty this movie is poorly written, pretty cliche for the most part. Although there were sparks of originality, its nothing more than "ok", there are so many holes in the plot, I'm disappointed that the details weren't that closely watched.

Peter D. gave it an8:
A funny and touching film, though not the best film that Seth Rogen has been in.

Kathryn S. gave it a9:
It has been a long time since I've come out of a movie where my face has been so tired from smiling and laughing so hard!

Billy S. gave it a5:
In all fairness to what I've been reading here, Zack & Miri is certainly not utter rubbish, but it's not amazing either. It is Kevin Smith's attempt to make a movie in which the Hollywood Think Tank didn't even want him to use the title! So we get a toned down, ratings-minded edited version of a film that will surely be much better on the directors cut DVD edition. I suggest you wait for that, but if you do go to the theater to see it, stay for the end credits and you.ll see a very funny epilouge about half way through. It really makes the whole thing worth while!

Ken G. gave it an8:
I am not the biggest Kevin Smith fan around. I liked his 1st "Clerks" movie, but didn't like any of his others, until now. This one was very funny, and refreshingly non-judgemental about porn. In fact it was actually pro-porn, which it practically unheard of when Hollywood deals with the subect of porn. It was also a sweet love story, and Banks and Rogen have good chemistry together. And to Michael B, let's hope that Hollywood does more "trash" like this. And what we should protect "or children and our children's " from our wannabe censors like you .

Alfonse S. gave it a0:
I have not walked out of a movie in some time. This was a lazy, pointless and tasteless film. Seth Rogan is trying to capitalize on his fame. Script was predictable and poorly written, the plot riddled with holes and each performance less convincing than the last.

Tim B. gave it a9:
We just saw this movie today and if you liked any other Kevin Smith movie than you'll love this one. I happen to be a big K.S. fan but putting that aside, it was a well thought out, funny (very funny) movie! Obviously predictable, but still quite amusing. Honestly, did not understand the other posts about the awkward relationship btwn Zach & Miri, or the uncomfortableness of the racial humor. Relationships in real life are awkward so why would you expect something different. They had great chemistry on screen and played off each other really well. Honestly, this was a great movie and made my sunday afternoon. If you liked either Seth Rogens / Kevin Smiths other movies, go see this one... You wont be disappointed.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno The Weinstein Company

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
The Weinstein Company