2008 film written and directed by Kevin Smith, and starring Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jeff Anderson, Traci Lords, Jason Mewes and Craig Robinson. Like Jersey Girl, this is not part of The View Askewniverse.The plot is pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin, as roommates Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) decide to make a pornographic movie in order to pay their bills. However, during the filming of the movie Zack and Miri seem to deal with their UST, although the path of love does not run smooth.
Contains Examples Of:
Actor Allusion: Real-life porn stars Katie Morgan and Traci Lords play porn actresses Stacey and Bubbles.
All The Good Men Are Gay: Miri's high school crush returns to their small town for a high school reunion. Well...he brought his boyfriend.
Censored Title: Many posters listed the movie as Zack and Miri, while others looked like the page image without the title at the bottom.
Most of the DVD covers also have the title as just Zack and Miri. Presumably, places such as Walmart would not have stocked the movie under its full name.
Everyone Can See It: Everyone sees there was more than just porn sex going on between Zack and Miri when their scene comes up (They see it too, but won't admit it)
Ethical Slut: The sex workers are almost implausibly sweet and well-adjusted in this movie; the neurotic suburbanites are the ones who have all the problems.
Leave the Camera Running: Avoided in the main film, but the Deleted Scene... well, there are two of them. One for Justin Long and one for Seth Rogen where they just sit there and ad lib.
Moral Guardians: They didn't take too kindly to the film, the poster or even the title.
Which is probably why the movie was released on DVD in many places as simply "Zack And Miri."
Pittsburgh: The movie is set in Monroeville, PA, a large suburb about a 20-minute drive from Downtown (unless it's rush hour, in which case it's a 50-minute drive).
Monroeville is also home to the mall where the original Dawn of the Dead was shot, which is why their (fictional) hockey team is called the Zombies.
Playing Against Type: Of a sort; Jason Mewes gained fame by playing the foul mouthed, aggressive and abrasive Jay (of 'and Silent Bob' fame) in The View Askewniverse. In this movie, his character is still a complete doofus, but he's a lot more pleasant, calm and good-natured.
Poor Communication Kills: Of course, if Zack and Miri could actually talk to each other like two mature adults, the last third of the movie wouldn't happen.
Lester: Lester... Lester the Molester Cockenschtuff.
Zack: Wow. That's a great porn name.
Lester: I get to pick a porn name?... Then I want to be called... Pete Jones.
Reality Subtext: The filming of the porno is an awful lot like the way the filming of Clerks has been described.
In particular, filming in the workplace after hours and the use of a microphone taped to a hockey stick as a boom mike are both shoutouts to the filming of Clerks (although Clerks was filmed with the knowledge and permission of Smith's then-employer).
Shout Out: The Monroeville Zombies hockey team refer to Dawn of the Dead, and some scenes are shot in the same mall as the original film.
To add to that, one of the porn titles Zack suggests is "Dawn of the Dick", and the sketchy man they rent the storage space from is played by none other than Tom Savini.
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