Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Um...right.

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.

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Tropes used in Zack and Miri Make a Porno include:

• 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.
• Ascended Fanon: Possibly the inspiration for the entire film. Once while on his college tours, Kevin met a gay fan who had a crush on Jason Mewes and begged him to do a movie in which Jason makes a porno. Several years later, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" comes out, complete with a full-frontal nudity shot of Mewes, probably just for that one fan.
• Bad Bad Acting: During the shooting of the eponymous porno
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Mewes full frontal scene.
  • In the words of Ben Affleck, "That's not him on the way up, that's him on the way back down!"
• Book Ends: Zack and Miri's conversation about the bathroom door happens twice, once near the start, and once near the end, almost word for word.

Zack: Close the door when you're taking a shit!!
Miri: It WAS closed!
Zack: It was closed OVER, it was not closed--
Miri: JUST CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR, ZACK!

• Catch Phrase / Running Gag: "Let us fuck!"
• 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.
• Chekhov's Gun: The boss's video camera.
• Class Reunion
• Closer to Earth: Neither Zack or Miri are intelligent, talented or skillful, but Miri seems to display fewer screw-ups than Zack.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Well, it's a Kevin Smith movie.
• Cool Loser: The main characters.
• The Danza: Inverted, Brandon Routh plays Bobby Long and Justin Long plays Brandon.
• Dawson Casting: Both straight and inverted - Banks plays its straight, while Rogen is 4 years younger than his character
• Deleted Scene: 43 of them on the DVD...
• Department of Redundancy Department: This scene:

Zack: You guys didn't have to do this...
Bubbles: And you two didn't have to put us in your movie either.
Deacon: Or let us shoot it!
Delaney: Or produce it.
Lester: Or put us in your movie neither!
Delaney: WE SAID THAT ALREADY!!

• The Ditz: Stacey, and Lester.
• 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.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: "I'm gonna fuck you with my penis!"
• High School Rejects
• I'll Take Two Beers Two

Zack: Yeah, I'll have two beers. (turns to Miri) You want one?

• Innocent Cohabitation: Zack and Miri at the start of the movie.
• Just Friends: Zack and Miri, to the extent they are Platonic Life Partners before the porno comes along.
• 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."
• One-Scene Wonder: Justin Long.
• Parallel Porn Titles: Zack and Miri initially set out to make Star Whores. They eventually get around to it.
• 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.
• Political Correctness Gone Mad: At the beginning of the movie, Zack's Black Best Friend accuses his boss (who is Asian) of racism because he wants him to work on "Black Friday."
• 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.
• Porn Names: Played with.

Zack: What's your name?
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).
• The Red Stapler: The Monroeville Zombies hockey jerseys.
• Refuge in Vulgarity: As expected, considering it's a Kevin Smith film.
• Secret Test of Character: Miri sets one of these for Zach, telling him it's okay to sleep with one of the actresses (for the movie) and, essentially, punishing him when (she believes) he has. Zack calls her out for her newly-found Manipulative Bastard tendencies, moves out, and abandons the production.
• Sex Equals Love: Played absolutely straight.
• 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.
• The Slacker: Zack.
• The Stinger: Interrupts the credits.
• Token Wholesome: Miri, both in and out of universe.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Both protagonists.
• Worst Whatever Ever: "Worst. Porno. Ever."