Raunchy ‘Zack and Miri’ proves repetitive and pointless

Before Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up”) became the go-to guy for smart and vulgar comedy, Kevin Smith was king of the intelligently crude with movies such as “Clerks,” “Dogma” and “Chasing Amy,” all of which are generally well thought of by critics and enjoy huge cult followings. “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” is Kevin Smith’s attempt at a comeback after two mostly unsuccessful films (“Clerks 2” and “Jersey Girl”). While it will prove fairly popular, the film — even with all its boundary-pushing grotesqueries — shows Smith’s inability to keep up with American comedy in the Apatow Era.

Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are two poverty-striken losers who have platonically lived together since high school, but, because they spend their not-so-hard earned money on mechanical sex toys rather than bills, they are now forced to live without water or electricity. There are plenty of solutions to this problem, of course, but since “Zack and Miri Learn to Budget Well and Work Harder In an Effort to Land Better Paying Jobs” didn’t sit so well with the film’s producers, the roommates decide to make a pornographic movie.

Even though the marketing for the film has been exclusively geared towards its overt sexuality, “Zack and Miri” is basically a romantic comedy with lots of dirty jokes. Unfortunately, it’s not very romantic or funny. Beyond that, Smith doesn’t achieve a convincing balance between the two, awkwardly transforming a “funny” moment into “meaningful.” Consider this in contrast with this year’s “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” which succeeded in both comedy and drama.

It’s funny — The best thing about “Zack and Miri” was actually made possible by Apatow. Smith has said the immense success of Apatow’s movies (which appeal to the same demographic) enabled him to procure a bigger budget for the film, allowing him to hire current “it” actors Rogen and Banks, who add surprisingly humane touches to Smith’s typically campy and unsympathetic cast.

The two best scenes in the movie (which interestingly show Smith fully embracing the dramatic) are made possible mostly by the leads’ performances. The first, which occurs at the tail end of a party, simply cuts back and forth between glances from the two characters, while the emotional weight of what is occurring is tastefully mirrored by the dramatic immediacy of the Pixies’ song “Hey.”

The second scene, which serves as the main turning point for both characters, says some interesting and moderately bold things about the relationship between sex and love. These are things that our culture knows are true but refuses to acknowledge (yes, there is a relationship), and the results are actually quite poignant and meaningful.

One of the film’s biggest missteps, however, is that the credits do not roll at the end of this scene, opting instead to wait another 20 minutes just to make sure that enough repetitive and meaningless melodrama can take place (not to mention one terribly over-the-top sight gag).

While Smith devotees will undoubtedly praise it, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” is ultimately too raunchy for fans of romance, too cheesy for fans of “Clerks” and too much of both for everyone else.

2 out of 5 stars.