I should probably start by saying that I am a rabid Kevin Smith fan. This is not to say I think he can do no wrong, but one day I would be more than happy to be as successful as he is today. On small budgets and short, indie style shoots, Smith has acquired a fanbase most directors at his level don't possess. He's turned into that aloof musician that releases an album every few years and you hope it'll be just as good, if not better, than the last. Zack and Miri Make a Porno, while not my all time favorite of his films, delivers on most parts and despite its faults remains a genuinely funny movie.
The film stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as high school friends and roomates who are forced to film a porno in order to make payment on their month's behind bills. The cast is much more high profile than any of Smith's other films, and some might even be mislead to believe it is a Judd Apatow production. That being said, the acting is also of a higher calibur than most of his films. Seth Rogen isn't breaking any ground playing the deadpan, chunky lead, but he fills the shoes well.
As a fellow writer I always look forward to hearing what dialogue will be coming out of Smith's characters next. The outrageous one-liners and vulgar ten minute conversations on God knows what always makes me laugh. He appeals to my baser instincts but also my wit; and I am rewarded for catching his inside geek/dork references (ie. Monroeville Zombies) strewn throughout the movie. I expect no less from Smith, and if nothing else he makes me laugh for an hour and a half.
The weakness of this film seems to lie deep in its plot between the second and third acts. Up until this point the pacing of the movie feels comfortable. Instead of taking another twenty or so minutes to keep the pace going, Smith jumps the timeline ahead three months and resolves most of the conflicts too easily. I have no problem with fairly happy endings in Kevin Smith's films, but this just didn't feel natural and felt more like he took a shortcut to get us to the end of the movie. While this hurts the film, it doesn't mean it makes it unwatchable.
Kevin Smith is the everyman's filmmaker. None of his films have won Oscars (these days I'd take that as a point of pride) and they aren't always deep. They do all manage to make me laugh, and you can still put them above all the poorly made remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels, adaptations, and [insert genre here] movie parodies. He's vulgar, dark, witty, and laughably funny. And although Zack and Miri has some mechanical flaws in its bones, it still fits the bill for an entertaining Smith flick.