FILM

Dir: Kevin Smith, 2008 101 mins)

Chubby, beardy Zack (Seth Rogen) and blonde, frizzy Miri (Elizabeth Banks), platonic friends since childhood, share a grotty apartment and are both are broke.  When their utilities are cut off, they decide the only way they can earn money is to shoot a porno film in which they will, finally, do ‘it’.  To this end, they gather a team of amiable foul-ups, played wryly by Kevin Smith staple Jason Mewes as a low IQ Dirk Diggler and a couple of game, genuine porn performers (Traci Lords, Katie Morgan).  Will Zack and Miri having sex on camera affect their relationship? Kevin Smith’s skills remain likeably mid-list, and this cruises past cheerfully on a non-stop stream of porn-related patter. The core of all the farce is a simple lift from ‘When Harry Met Sally’ as lifelong pals realise after every single person in the audience that they’re horribly in love with each other.  Rogen and Banks are funny together and apart, but the film fumbles in the home stretch, which might have been stapled in from any other standard rom-com.