ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO - by a Xixax favorite

[RegularKarate]

It's still too smithy to be good.  I'll probably watch it and I'll probably even laugh a few times, but it won't be good.

[matt35mm]

I'm surprised that the MPAA let them have that poster.

[Ghostboy]

They didn't - it got denied.

[matt35mm]

Thank God somebody's still thinking of the children!

[Ravi]

It's still too smithy to be good.  I'll probably watch it and I'll probably even laugh a few times, but it won't be good.

Looks like a Smith film (poorly) masquerading as an Apatow film.  Pass.

Friends made the "Lawrence of A-Labia" joke years ago.  And some guy somewhere made the same joke years before that.

[Gamblour.]

Looks like a Smith film (poorly) masquerading as an Apatow film.  Pass.

Friends made the "Lawrence of A-Labia" joke years ago.  And some guy somewhere made the same joke years before that.

Ding.

And yeah, went through the porno name phase a long time ago. Hope it's not too prevalent here.

Although, I have to say, I did laugh. Reminded me of those scenes in Boogie, in the restaurant, at the end of the trailer. But yeah, those Apatow posters are dead to me.

[MacGuffin]

Green Ban version here.

[md]

A friend of mine was a camera intern on this and as a gift for his hard work, they gave him the HVX that they used to shoot the porno scenes.  I think he said there are real porn stars in the film.  Either way "too smithy" summed it up for me, the trailer is all I'll need. 

[Kal]

I still dont know if this is good or bad, but I laughed by ass non stop for 90 minutes!

Its really just a combination of scenes with all sorts of wrong stuff in dialogue, shots, actions, you name it. I had a lot of fun, and so did a huge audience present at the theatre here in Toronto. Even the R rating seems wrong for this.

The actors, my favorite here was Craig Robinson. He was amazing and hilarious. Seth Rogen and Banks were great too, and Justin Long is becoming one of those guys that can own a movie with a little supporting part (this, The Break Up, and a couple others for sure).

The best part was Kevin Smith's Q&A after the film. He said it really felt like making porn and its something he always wanted to do (also there are some porn stars in the film), that he is used to working with non-actors ("I've worked with the Affleck for 10 years"), and that his new movie will be so dark and scary that "it will make The Dark Knight look like the fucking Smurfs".

[MacGuffin]

[MacGuffin]

`Porno' proves a five-letter word for movie's ads

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Smith made a movie with such a bothersome title he cannot even place ads for it in some places.

Some newspaper, TV and outdoor ads for Smith's comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" have been rejected because of their content or the five-letter word that ends the title, said Gary Faber, head of marketing for the Weinstein Co., which is releasing the film.

Among those refusing to carry ads are about 15 newspapers and several TV stations and cable channels, Faber said. Commercials for the film during Los Angeles Dodgers games on Fox Sports were dropped at the team's request after some viewers complained, said Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch.

One complaint came from a man watching a game in September with his young son, who did not understand a suicide-squeeze bunt the Dodgers tried, Rawitch said.

"He was explaining to his son what a squeeze bunt was. Commercial break, the ad comes on, and the kid asks, `Dad, what does porno mean?'" Rawitch said. "Dodgers baseball has always been about family, and we've always been sensitive to the type of advertising that runs on our games."

The city of Philadelphia refused "Zack and Miri" posters at bus stops. Similar posters at Boston bus stops have drawn complaints from a child-development expert who said they are inappropriate for children.

Smith found it ironic that the posters have been a problem. Some playfully risque ads with images of "Zack and Miri" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks were forbidden by the Motion Picture Association of America, which called the ads "highly sexually suggestive and not suitable for general audiences."

So Weinstein came up with posters using stick figures to represent the actors.

"The whole idea was, our hands were so tied on all previous entries we'd given them that this ad was meant to be the innocuous one that would get approved everywhere," Smith said.

Rina Cutler, Philadelphia deputy mayor for transportation, said the stick-figure posters were cute and clever but unacceptable for bus shelters where schoolchildren would see the word "porno."

"If they want to call the movie `Zack and Miri,' that's fine, but Zack and Miri cannot make a porno on my bus shelters," Cutler said.

Opening Oct. 31, "Zack and Miri" features Rogen and Banks as platonic best buddies and roommates who decide to make their own skin flick to dig themselves out of debt.

Diane Levin, an education professor specializing in child development at Boston's Wheelock College, said the posters at city bus stops send a message to children that working in the porn industry is an acceptable occupation.

"It's drawing attention to a movie which is mainstreaming and normalizing pornography, saying if you need money, this is what you do," said Levin, co-author of "So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids."

The stick-figure images are especially appealing to youngsters, since "stick figures are something for children," she said.

Weinstein marketing boss Faber countered: "It's a comedy. It's a joke. We're not advertising a porno. It's not a porno. The word `porno,' it's not supposed to turn you on. It's supposed to make you laugh."

The ratings board of the MPAA initially slapped "Zack and Miri" with an NC-17 rating, a box-office kiss of death because audiences view such films as explicit adult-only flicks. Smith appealed and talked the film down to an R rating.

Faber said the company has been able to place its ads in most of the outlets it has approached. For newspapers that rejected them because of the word "porno," Weinstein might play around with variations that exclude the title, he said.

The company developed a version of the stick-figure poster without the film's name, bearing the slogan, "Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks made a movie so outrageous that we can't even tell you the title."

[modage]

It's still too smithy to be good.  I'll probably watch it and I'll probably even laugh a few times, but it won't be good.

this really says it all.  just a warning to anyone else who was won over by the trailer, this is the same old smith.  but now much better actors are stranded in these thankless parts.  Kevin Smith may have dipped into Judd Apatow's stable of actors but he proves himself to be nowhere near the same class of filmmaker.  I was a fan of Smith's early films when I was in high school, but the problem was that I grew up and he didn't.  this film in particular is numbing with it's attempts to be shocking and you end up feeling embarrassed for the actors involved.  Banks and Rogen both deserve better material than this script and a director who can shape their performances.

[w/o horse]

I'll second that.

It's really not very funny.  And despite its concluding attempts, it's not emotional.

[Slick Shoes]

Can't say I was disappointed because I never expect too much from Smith. But yeah. In regard to the Apatow connection, previous to my viewing it, I only knew about Rogen and Banks being in it. But goddamn, he really does use a lot of Apatow regulars in this movie. Don't know their names, but a whole bunch of people from 40 year old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc. Aside from casting choices, though, didn't see many similarities. Was mildy amused by what appeared to be a nod to PTA. A line Eizabeth Banks says to Rogen which Julianne Moore says to Wahlberg. Maybe nod isn't the right word, dunno, but it's obvious where he got it from. About halfway through the credits there is a fake infomercial thing that falls flat.

[Convael]

Can't say I was disappointed because I never expect too much from Smith. But yeah. In regard to the Apatow connection, previous to my viewing it, I only knew about Rogen and Banks being in it. But goddamn, he really does use a lot of Apatow regulars in this movie. Don't know their names, but a whole bunch of people from 40 year old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc. Aside from casting choices, though, didn't see many similarities. Was mildy amused by what appeared to be a nod to PTA. A line Eizabeth Banks says to Rogen which Julianne Moore says to Wahlberg. Maybe nod isn't the right word, dunno, but it's obvious where he got it from. About halfway through the credits there is a fake infomercial thing that falls flat.

What does she say?  Pull it out and do it on my stomach and my tits if you can?