Zack And Miri Make A Porno Premieres Tomorrow, Will The Film By Vancouver Film School Alum Kevin Smith Tank Thanks To Its Marketing?

Zack and Miri Make a Porno could be funny. It combines two great comedic cliques: that of Kevin Smith and company and the Judd Apatow gang. So what’s the problem? Well, it turns out it’s a little harder to market a movie about an amateur porno than the Weinstein Co. may have originally thought.
 

First there was the issue of the rating. The Motion Picture Association of America forced an NC-17 label on the film, effectively ensuring close to no one would see it. Thankfully Smith himself appealed the decision and got the rating reduced to R. Now anyone over 18, who looks over 18 or can convince someone over 18 to buy them a ticket, can revel in the adult-entertainment-making flick.
 

Then came the poster problem. Jealous Americans just couldn’t stand the thought of little old raggedy Seth Rogan getting a blow job, so the MPAA threw up a ban on the poster. No worries, the Weinstein guys shot back with a new promotional piece that makes a mockery of the controversy. Check it out in the gallery.
 

But the sticky situations didn’t end there. Ads were being banned all over. In Boston there were complaints, in Philly they were forbidden, and in L.A. one man fumed that the commercial ruined his son’s baseball watching experience. In fact, 15 newspapers and several TV stations refused to run the ad. All this brouhaha over the word porno? Just because it implies naked (or appropriately costumed) adults doing the dirty with various props and storylines, the word seems to cause some discomfort.
 

Now, the movie is debuting tomorrow and the world waits to see the outcome (psht who cares about the election or real international crises?). Will the controversy build good buzz for the film or will ‘Porno’ finish limp?