comment #1

actionman says ...

Stupid puritanical belief systems still at large in the U.S. Very weak. IT'S A F'ING MOVIE!

comment #2

bildeaux says ...

Daddy, what does WAR mean?

comment #3

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

And yet I saw an absolutely hideous promo for yet another VH-1 bitches-and-hos hip-hop "reality" show the other day, and it was shown right in the middle of... SpongeBob SquarePants!

comment #4

televisiontears says ...

If my six year old kid asked me, "Dad, what's 'porno' mean?", I'd say "Pornos are awesome movies made by stupid people with no talent that helped Mommy and me love each other long enough to make you and your sister. And when Mommy doesn't "love" Daddy anymore, Daddy can watch one and feel much better." Simple.

comment #5

lazespud says ...

I'd always assumed that they made the title with assumption that some conservative outlets would refuse the advertising, then they'd get a resulting bunch of free advertising because of this on places like HE, and for those original outlets they'd resubmit the ads as simply "zack and miri".

It just seemed like they'd titled the movie with the assumption that it could be cut down if certain outlets complained...

By the way, I saw my first commercial for it last night and when they said "Miri", I thought they'd made a mistake. No matter how many times I've read the title, I dyslexically saw "Mira" and not "Miri".

And what kind of a name is "Miri" anyway?

comment #6

p.Vice says ...

I'd say it takes more talent to be in a porno than it does to be in a Kevin Smith movie.

comment #7

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

And while we're at it... Major League Baseball has been promoting Viagra for years -- Viagra is (or was) "an official sponsor", fer chrissakes. Now all of a sudden sex makes baseball teams like the Dodgers uncomfortable?

comment #8

corey3rd says ...

Porno is something daddy did because he's hung like a horse and worshipped in Brazil. I still love your mommy although sometimes its nice when mommy gets a little help with some of her friends.

comment #9

televisiontears says ...

p.Vice - George Carlin, Chris Rock, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, and yes, Seth Rogen.

I'm not the biggest Kevin Smith fan, but I'll never understand the insane levels of hate some have for him. He's probably the least pretentious big name filmmaker out there, and he makes the films he wants. You like them or you don't. It's not as if he's destroying American culture with his micro-sized productions.

comment #10

bluefugue says ...

Elizabeth Banks looks pretty hot in that billboard.

comment #11

Aris P says ...

Miri = Star Trek Episode 12, 1967.

comment #12

Cadavra says ...

It could also be short for Miriam.

comment #13

Mark says ...

Actually Kevin Smith demanded that ads be removed from MLB games. He needed the press that comes with controversy.

comment #14

RDP says ...

So we haven't really evolved as a country at all in the twenty five years since my local newspaper wouldn't accept ads for the James Bond movie "Octopussy".

comment #15

Gordie Lachance says ...

This sort of reminds me of the Janet Jackson SuperBowl thing a few years back.

As a guy, watching the game with your kids, you're SUPPOSED to oogle the cheerleaders with your son, and say "Look at her pom-poms", you know, to make sure your kids not a fag or anything, but GOD FORBID you see an almost bare metallic-covered tit, and it's the end of the world.

Am I supposed to be turned on by breasts? Morally outraged? It's no wonder Viagra / Cialis were the 2 biggest Superbowl ad buyers. We're all a bunch of confused nervous limp dicks.

comment #16

Mark says ...

I'll attempt to rationalize the insane levels of hate for Kevin Smith. He hasn't made anything watchable since the second act of Chasing Amy. Yet he can fill out any film-school auditorium, rehash old inside stories, and everyone laughs nonstop like he's Chris fuckin Rock.

So there's definitely a playa-hating aspect to this. Great casts + endless green lights + fawning blowjobs + unwatchable movies = insane hate.

In the end, his ability to make whatever movie he wants is undeserved.

comment #17

Gordie Lachance says ...

I'm going to see one of those "Evening Withs" in North Jersey in a couple of months. He's a great speaker, and if there were any other filmmakers who could tell a story like him, they'd be doing it (because it pays well). But there aren't, and they don't.

His ability to make movies is governed largely by his ability to sell (and re-sell) special edition dvds. Maybe if guys like Woody Allen or the Coen brothers would get off their asses and record a simple dvd commentary track, they wouldn't have to go to England to get funding.

comment #18

Rev. Slappy says ...

Bluefugue: I'm with you. It's amazing how much that stick figure looks like Banks.

comment #19

Nick Rogers says ...

If you're a dad watching a Dodgers game with your young son, you have to explain the word "suck," so why not "porno"?

comment #20

D.Z. says ...

They hate to use the word porno in an ad for a movie title, but don't mind mentioning it in ads for Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones episodes? Hell, if it bothers them that much, why did they advertise "Freddy Got Fingered" or "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut"?

comment #21

DavidF says ...

Surely there are many academics making careers out of the messed up American dichotomy where 1/2 the country freaks out if they see Janet Jackson's tit or sees the word "porno" while the other half produces most of the world's pornos and wants to see as many tits as they can.

Your whole country needs to go on Dr. Phil.

comment #22

dinther says ...

It's not the word "porno" they should ashamed of, it's "Kevin Smith."

Television tears, the problem with Smith - other than his movies - is that he disses as "pretentious" other serious filmmakers who take chances and aspire to make ambitious films, but has made his career off of safe, point-and-shoot comedies that, if anyone dislikes them, he says, "don't take it so seriously."

Smith is a coward - afraid to try anything beyond shake-n-bake films because if he tried something ambitious, he couldn't pull it off.

comment #23

televisiontears says ...

dinther, I agree he coudn't pull off anything with ambition, but I wouldn't say he's a coward, only that he's a filmmaker of very limited range. I guess my original point is that his films are so inconsequential, that it seems like overkill to express such disdain for him. It only gives his cult ammo to label him as misunderstood.

It's comparable to reactions to Wes Anderson films. Some people love every one of them like their mothers, which leads people who don't particularly enjoy them to inflate that disinterest into utter contempt. Then the Anderson fans need to overcompensate, and sometimes become apologists.

comment #24

storymark says ...

And here we have, in Mark and dinther, two key examples of Smith haters - guys who really, really, really wish they could do what he did - and are pissed because they know they never will.

comment #25

DavidF says ...

What storymark said.
I've never heard Kevin Smith call another film "pretentious."
I don't think there's anyone more aware of his limitations (which I think he has exceeded over the years) than Kevin Smith.

Go up to his face, tell him he makes the same movie over and over and has no style and he'll smile and agree. Then try it with Paul Thomas Anderson.

I happen to like most of what he does (though I wish he'd go a bit outside the box - I was really hoping he'd get to do Fletch) but, as televisiontears says, I don't understand the point in hating him unless (as Storymark says) you're a bitter clerk who thinks you coulda done what he did and fuck him for being succcesful.

comment #26

lazespud says ...

DavidF says:
"Go up to his face, tell him he makes the same movie over and over and has no style and he'll smile and agree. Then try it with Paul Thomas Anderson."

What... what? PTA acquired this rep of making "the same film" based on two movie; Boogie Nights and Magnolia, which definitely shared a altman-type structure. But Hard Eight, Punch Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood are as different as different can be.

My favorite quote along these lines was when a critic accused Angus Young of AC/DC recycling his music for each album:
"I get really pissed off when people say I’ve recorded the same album twelve times. In fact, I’ve recorded the same album THIRTEEN times!”

comment #27

dinther says ...

Televisiontears, I see your point; my disdain from Smith emerges less from his work product, and more from his derision of those who, unlike him, aspire to do something big.

And Storymark, you gave me the giggles --thanks for that. Yes, I suppose if I aspired to make movies of the caliber of Smith, I would first need a giant chip on my shoulder.