Seth Rogen (pictured, far right with Elizabeth Banks and Justin Long) is a lot like early Adam Sandler. Up through Saturday Night Live, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Wedding Singer, Sandler could do no wrong. Rogen has been in some modern comedy classics as well.
Zach and Miri Make a Porno is not as good as some other Rogen vehicles, but it's definitely got sufficient laughs. It's about two friends who can't make ends meet so they decide that producing a porn movie will bring them riches and not adversely affect them since they have no families and no dignity.
Standout performances include Elizabeth Banks (W., 13 episodes of Scrubs, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Spider-Man, Seabiscuit, Catch Me If You Can, Wet Hot American Summer), Craig Robinson (Darryl in The Office, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), and Justin Long as Brandon St. Randy (Ed, Jeepers Creepers, Pineapple Express, and George Harrison in Walk Hard).
Best Seth Rogen starring projects:
4. Pineapple Express
3. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (***1/2 out of ***** stars)
2. Superbad
1. Knocked Up
Can you believe he also appeared in these?:
Freaks and Geeks, which I've also started watching recently (***1/2 out of ***** stars)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Donnie Darko
The Waterboy and Big Daddy were the beginning of the end for Sandler. Now, let's hope we can wring a few more good ones out of Rogen before he hits his "Anger Management phase."
I watched it a couple of nights ago and absolutely loved it. Not sure where I rank it within the Rogen resume but I thought it displayed a new dimension for his films. Besides the 5 or 6 laugh so hard you almost cry moments, the film also captures the uncomfortable moments so brilliantly that I was cringing on my couch. When they followed one another is was almost sensory overload. I'm debating between 4 and 4.5 stars myself. Not to be forgotten is the "where could these movies go now for comedic shock value" moment. Instant classic scene.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Anonymous. Very lewd, but in all the right ways. It was actually very tough for me not to give this at least 4 stars. For one thing, it's the kind of movie I could definitely watch again. And I almost never watch movies more than once. May have to rethink my 3.5-star rating sometime in the future.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
Paul