Elizabeth Banks talks about 17 Again and its subliminal message

Elizabeth Banks saw 17 Again, and just like me, it's because she's crushing a bit on Zac Efron:

I went to see 17 Again this past weekend. Not because I have an 11-year-old daughter. Not because I am an HSM fan -- never seen it! No, I plunked down my soft-earned money for this flick for one reason: I am a 3?-year-old woman inappropriately lustful for Zac Efron (Ya got me, media, especially you, GQ! [see above]). Zac Efron did not disappoint. He's charming, makes use of many fingers while "twirling a basketball" (you get it) and looks great with his shirt off (some term that "star power"). At one point, I drooled.

But she notes that the message of the movie is don't worry if you get pregnant at 18 because everything will all work out. Only Margaret Cho as the Sex Ed teacher says Abstinence, yeah right, and proceeds to pass out condoms.

Here's the thing though -- the message of the movie seemed to be (and again, I may just be reading too much into the twirling fingers thing): knocking up your high school sweetheart is A-OK! Especially if you give up that Syracuse scholarship to marry her! F College!

...the satire was above the pay grade of the 8 year-old sitting behind me. I'm pretty sure he/she (what's with all the long hair?) saw the movie like this: out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy leads to falling off a bridge into a magic tornado, inappropriate dancing between a MILF and the star of HSM, buying cool Ray Bans with your rich friend's Black Amex, winning back the girl and, finally, running through a magic tunnel that makes your clothes suddenly fit you even though you just instantly gained 40 pounds.

Read the whole thing at Huffington Post!

Zach & Miri Make a Porno - Mini-review

I really liked Zach & Miri Make a Porno. It was really sweet. Yes, it was raunchy, had tons of crude potty humor and showed a full frontal Jason Mewes. It was a Kevin Smith film, after all! But all Kevin Smith films have a soft gooey marshmallow center and the budding romance that develops between Zach & Miri while they make a porno movie IS sweet and quite touching.

I'm not over Seth Rogen. I just find him hilarious and Elizabeth Banks is such a comic gem! Zach & Miri have known each other since high school and share an apartment, but they have never been romantic or had sex. They find themselves in dire financial straights so they come up with they idea of making a porno flick to make some money. If you don't want to see people having sex, don't watch this movie, in other words.

One of my favorite scenes is at Zach & Miri's high school reunion. Brandon Routh of Superman Returns is Miri's high school crush, and she finds out he brought his gay porno star boyfriend, played by Jason Long (Mac ads). Kevin Smith wrote one of the versions of the Superman script so it's quite ironic that he put "Superman" in a gay kissing scene! It was priceless all around.

I give Zach & Miri three and a half stars. It's not a film for everyone, but I found it both hilarious and romantic.