ShareThisTen things you need to know before buying a ticket to "Zack and Miri Make a Porno":1. It is not a porn movie, but a romantic comedy about two down-on-their-luck Pittsburghers making a porn movie.2. However, it has language for mature audiences and elements you might find in an adult film, such as bare-breasted women, male frontal nudity and sex scenes, almost all played for laughs.3. It also has one of the year's grossest (although blessedly brief) scenes. The substance in question is actually baby food, but, even knowing that, it still may make you gasp or recoil in your seat.4. "Zack and Miri" is rated R but originally received an NC-17. It is not a PG-13 that tiptoed across the R line because of an extra four-letter word. It's really, really rated R. Really.5. Director-writer Kevin Smith doesn't showcase Pittsburgh the way the TV show "The Guardian" or "Striking Distance" did, but he captures its flavor, sports obsession and neighborhood feel.6. If you're not familiar with Smith's movies, this might not be the best introduction to his body of work. If, however, you have seen "Dogma" or "Chasing Amy" or "Clerks," you will know what to expect.7. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen may be an unlikely pair, but they have better chemistry than Rogen and Katherine Heigl in "Knocked Up" and make a sweeter, more believable couple. Their characters have been friends since first grade and are now roommates, while Rogen's and Heigl's characters were strangers until their one-night stand.8. Craig Robinson, best known as Darryl on "The Office" and here one of Zack's co-workers, is one funny dude. Not funny was his arrest earlier this year and guilty plea to possession of Ecstasy. In August, a judge allowed him to enter a drug-diversion program, and if he completes counseling and stays clean for 18 months, the case will be dismissed.Filling other small roles are: Brandon "Superman" Routh; Justin Long, from "Ed" and Apple computer commercials; Smith regular Jason Mewes; adult-film actresses, past and present, Traci Lords and Katie Morgan; Tyler Labine from TV's "Reaper"; and Tom Savini.9. Early reviews have been mixed. Roger Moore from The Orlando Sentinel wrote: "The 'it' boy of crude comedy, Seth Rogen, loses some of his comic heat when he teams up with the guy who invented the genre, Kevin Smith, in 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno.' It's ... in the standard Smith style -- comical sex talk with the women just as dirty as the guys, dated pop-culture references, a big gross-out moment and an endless litany of oral sex jokes." Variety, however, called it a "a cheerfully vulgar love story or a sweet-hearted sex farce, however you want to look at it."10. Did we mention it's rated R? And a very hard R at that.(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette movie editor Barbara Vancheri can be reached at bvancheri(at)post-gazette.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
What you should know about 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno'
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