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ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO Is The "Funniest Movie Of The Year"?
Beaks here...
I've yet to hear a discouraging word on Kevin Smith's ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO ("His funniest movie since CLERKS!", "His best movie since CHASING AMY!", "His best movie ever!), and the below review from "The Amber Spyglass" is more of the laudatory same. The red band trailer certainly got me in the mood, so here's hoping the film can work me to completion.
For now, I'll hand it over to our man in Pleasantville...
Hey there. I wrote in a review a couple months ago for "Frost/Nixon" and just saw a screening of Kevin Smith’s new flick, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” It was screening in Pleasantville, NY with a Q/A session after the movie with Kevin Smith and Janet Maslin of the New York Times.
This was the funniest movie of the year in my opinion. Before the summer I was really looking forward to “Step Brothers,” “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder,” as the hype I heard surrounding each of the films was nothing but positive, and each lived up to their hype. I knew “ZAMMAP” was coming out in late October but had heard practically nothing on it until only recently, with positive reviews coming out about it. So I was pumped going in, expecting a great Kevin Smith film, and that’s exactly what I got.
Right off the bat, the first 40 or so minutes of the film are the funniest minutes in recent memory. The pace doesn’t quit as the audience is hit with joke after joke, which at times can be annoying because everyone is laughing so hard that you sometimes miss jokes, but it’s worth it just because the those minutes are amazing. Seth Rogen is great, as he is in all his movies, even though he seems to be playing the same role in every movie, he knows how to knock it out of the park. Elizabeth Banks is great and ridiculously sexy, even in those granny panties. Craig Robinson steals every single scene he is in. I was expecting more from him in “Pineapple Express,” but Kevin Smith knew how to utilize him in this film and he is perfectly cast. The rest of the supporting cast, including Jason Mewes, was all great. They each brought a different element to the making of the porno, whether it was making a dick erect within a manner of seconds, or being able to blow bubbles with a certain body part, they all had a special talent in the making of the porno and of the movie itself.
Something that really stuck out for me was the choice of music that Kevin Smith made. Honestly, I don’t remember one of the songs, but I know that each song chosen really reflected a particular moment in the movie. Specifically, when Zack and Miri are having sex, the song being played really, really struck a chord with me.
With “ZAMMAP” I feel Kevin Smith took a little bit of his past films and rolled it into one. You get the sense of “Clerks” when Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson are working in their shit Bean-N-Gone coffee job, and there’s a quick sense of “Mallrats” when the above are walking through a mall on Black Friday. There’s a little bit of past Kevin Smith in this film. I believe that what Zack and Miri went through in order to make that porno was something like what Kevin Smith went through in order to make “Clerks.” Obviously not everything was the same, but the sense of how the porno came together was probably heavily influenced by his work on “Clerks.”
All in all, this movie was a riot, hilarious from beginning to end. The third act loses a little because of the slight switch from comedy to romance, but the movie doesn’t suffer. When this movie comes out you definitely have to check it out, as it will have you in stitches right from the start.
-The Amber Spyglass
This was the funniest movie of the year in my opinion. Before the summer I was really looking forward to “Step Brothers,” “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder,” as the hype I heard surrounding each of the films was nothing but positive, and each lived up to their hype. I knew “ZAMMAP” was coming out in late October but had heard practically nothing on it until only recently, with positive reviews coming out about it. So I was pumped going in, expecting a great Kevin Smith film, and that’s exactly what I got.
Right off the bat, the first 40 or so minutes of the film are the funniest minutes in recent memory. The pace doesn’t quit as the audience is hit with joke after joke, which at times can be annoying because everyone is laughing so hard that you sometimes miss jokes, but it’s worth it just because the those minutes are amazing. Seth Rogen is great, as he is in all his movies, even though he seems to be playing the same role in every movie, he knows how to knock it out of the park. Elizabeth Banks is great and ridiculously sexy, even in those granny panties. Craig Robinson steals every single scene he is in. I was expecting more from him in “Pineapple Express,” but Kevin Smith knew how to utilize him in this film and he is perfectly cast. The rest of the supporting cast, including Jason Mewes, was all great. They each brought a different element to the making of the porno, whether it was making a dick erect within a manner of seconds, or being able to blow bubbles with a certain body part, they all had a special talent in the making of the porno and of the movie itself.
Something that really stuck out for me was the choice of music that Kevin Smith made. Honestly, I don’t remember one of the songs, but I know that each song chosen really reflected a particular moment in the movie. Specifically, when Zack and Miri are having sex, the song being played really, really struck a chord with me.
With “ZAMMAP” I feel Kevin Smith took a little bit of his past films and rolled it into one. You get the sense of “Clerks” when Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson are working in their shit Bean-N-Gone coffee job, and there’s a quick sense of “Mallrats” when the above are walking through a mall on Black Friday. There’s a little bit of past Kevin Smith in this film. I believe that what Zack and Miri went through in order to make that porno was something like what Kevin Smith went through in order to make “Clerks.” Obviously not everything was the same, but the sense of how the porno came together was probably heavily influenced by his work on “Clerks.”
All in all, this movie was a riot, hilarious from beginning to end. The third act loses a little because of the slight switch from comedy to romance, but the movie doesn’t suffer. When this movie comes out you definitely have to check it out, as it will have you in stitches right from the start.
-The Amber Spyglass
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or Kevin Smith apologist no doubt. It's one thing to hope this may be good, but funniest movie of the year... don't hold your breath.
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Uh huh
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I think Smith is due for a good one
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One of the worst movies of the year so far.
I am looking forward to Zack and Miri though... -
If you cant beat em, join em.
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... I'll refrain my enthusiasm.
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THE PROMOTION and GET SMART were fuckin awful.
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The pace doesn’t quit as the audience is hit with joke after joke, which at times can be annoying because everyone is laughing so hard that you sometimes miss jokes, but it’s worth it just because the those minutes are amazing.
If I had a nickle... -
I'd apparently be broke and have a lot of woodpeckers, according to Wikipedia.
However, if I had a NICKEL... -
Oh, you just know that its out there, baby.
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I'm not a huge fan of Kevin Smith's movies. Dogma and Clerks are great, Jay and Silent Bob was pretty good, everything else I can do without. Come back in a month and tell me the first 40 minutes weren't amazing.
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SMELL-O-VISION!!!!
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GO GREEN!
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I know this to be true?
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"which at times can be annoying because everyone is laughing so hard that you sometimes miss jokes"
...before I stopped reading this "review".
Fucking Trifids!
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I wish Seth Rogan would just go away to wherever Jim Carrey went and stay there.
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That was most plantedly the plantiest plant I've ever planted.
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Even the questionable nature of the review makes me a little more optimistic about this film. I haven't like KS since Jay and Silent Bob and I'm hoping he can finally rebound a bit. I'm sick of all these Trek guys in movies lately when we all know Star Wars guys are way cooler. K smith could kick JJ ass any day of the week.
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Sep 12, 2008 2:23:28 PM CDT
Step Brothers was the funniest movie this year! what's with the
by brighteyes
And this is coming from the guy who's favorite young director is David Gordon Green and Pineapple just did not live up to the hype at all, and I did the first review for Tropic Thunder on this site in March and as great as Thunder was Step Brothers edged it out for being the funniest movie of the year. Anyways I love Kevin Smith and I hope this will be the funniest.
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'til Avatar.
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...cause this is a plant
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I was driving home from my job at the nuclear power PLACE and I put in a cd by THE FORMER LED ZEPPLIN SINGER when it occured to me that I need to water the VEGITATION GROWING OUT OF POTS on my porch.
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Was quite good, actually, and Get Smart was brainless, but fun (and had Anne Hathaway in it). Tropic Thunder was awesome. Step Brothers was seriously shitty though...
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More like Judd Apatow makes Kevin Smith movies. Seriously, Smith has been making these movies since Clerks...
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I hope Smith turns in a better movie then Clerks 2.
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That's swell.
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And Judd Apatow got big by making a Kevin Smith movie with the crudeness turned up. Smith has just done the same.
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Kevin Smith's real brilliance these days is coming up with crappy franchise ideas for the fast food restaurant industry.
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Sep 12, 2008 3:37:26 PM CDT
Yet to hear a discouraging word? You guys were the ones who prin
by ninjarap
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36745
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What the fuck.
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"Something that really stuck out for me was the choice of music that Kevin Smith made. Honestly, I don’t remember one of the songs"
That's funnier than anything Kevin Smith has ever written. -
"...which at times can be annoying because everyone is laughing so hard that you sometimes miss jokes...". Either Beaks knows something we don't or he doesn't read the reviews before posting 'em.
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Ding ding ding!! Top answer!
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"Seth Rogen is great, as he is in all his movies, even though he seems to be playing the same role in every movie"..has me worried.As long as this is better than Clerks 2, which I held out high hopes for, but I thought fell short.
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Ten points deducted for Nickn328 for his "first" post. Ten point bonus for seniormoogle for being the first to call plant.
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Adjectives like funniest, greatest, amazing, etc. lose their power when used time and time again. And Harry is the biggest offender, so it's not suprising when a write-in reviewer does the same.BTW stating you're not a plant just fuels the fire for the skeptics.
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I doubt hearing fuck and pussy a million times in the full movie will make it any funnier. Profanity is a crutch for the lame Mr. Smith.
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I like Kevin Smith, but honestly.
this review is too much. -
The word 'porno' is annoying. Why not just 'porn'? Porno sounds kinda juvenile. "I know where my dad hides his porno stash, wanna see?". I can only imagine working in a box office and having to hear "Two tickets for 'Zack and Mirra Make a Porno" all day. Ugh. Right up there with hearing people say "'Diabolique', 8:00 show please."q
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Just the awkward shots where Cage is stretching were funnier than anything Smith or Apatow has ever produced.
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Funniest movie of the year was Sex And The City... just the concept of such a movie makes me laught.
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Garth over at Dark horizons had a very positive review up a few days ago. His reviews have always been very trustworthy.
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can eat my anal douche filled with corn and barely legal fat girls' pubic hair! K Smith should make a movie about how lame 1st posters are! i liked clerks,but actually laughed the most during mallrats. peace to all who seek it
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Does Elizabeth Banks get naked in this?? Is their full penetration?
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I got excited
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You know you'd plant that. Plant it til the buds fell off, baby.
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Yeah because there's no religious propaganda, right?
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really solid summer, and this is from a self described hater.
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"I believe that what Zack and Miri went through in order to make that porno was something like what Kevin Smith went through in order to make “Clerks.”" Really?
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The minority of religious people must beware the well-organised monothilithic group of power hungry atheists! Pity the poor, downtrodden believers and their folkloric mysticism attempting to do battle against the true rulers of our civilization!
Am I pouring it on a little too thick? Well, it usually works in a less strident style. -
Chasing Amy was his worst movie.
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Your girlfriend made YOU watch Mallrats and Clerks, and that caused your breakup? Was it your reaction to the flicks...I don't get the connection.
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Someone had to say it. Clerks then...what, exactly? Why do people even know who the guy is? He's a fucking dickweed with a mouth like trailer trash. If he's finally made a passable movie it's about fucking time. Still can't give me back all the various hours of my life he's taken up, fucking fat wasting cuntrag.
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That's 18.5 flying cars he'd owe me.
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I'd rather give myself an enema.
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Plant of the Apes and Plantoon are our starters for ten
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Someone didn't like Dogma.
Can anyone name a recent writer/director who's had a perfect track record? Try to be as objective as you can be... heh, who am I kidding. Scratch that, rather if you don't like it, don't watch it.
As for why Kevin seems to get more exposure than alot of directors - he's got a good agent and there's obviously a market for it. -
Sep 12, 2008 7:49:03 PM CDT
As much as I love Kevin Smith, I just dislike Seth Rogen.
by derlanghaarige
He can't write jokes, he can't deliver them and judgig him by his guest appereance at Conan O'Brien a few weeks ago, he seems to be more arrogant than Christian Ulmen.
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The haters can keep hating, while me and thousands of others are laughing our asses off at the theater.
(Though I'm betting a lot of the haters are also in the theater) -
The jokes were great, the music was great, the writing was great, the romance was great, the profanity was great, the sight gags was great (etc...)
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...The odds of ZACK & MIRI MAKE A PORNO turning out to be "the funniest movie of the year" is equal to Jenna Jameson picking me up at Costco later tonight and then taking me to a party in the valley which every Vivid Video star is attending, at which point they all drop their clothes in unison and say "You can have us ALL!" Which is to say the odds are ZERO.I very rarely accuse anyone of this, but this is either one seriously diehard Kevin Smith lover (so the review was objectively pointless to begin with) OR this ranks as one of the greenest and lushest PLANTS we've seen around this place yet.
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STEP BROTHERS had a few laughs, but it is easily the worst film I've seen this year.
I've managed to nail down my main problem with it: in hindsight, I didn't like Ferrell or Reilly's characters. I'm supposed to be rooting for these overgrown children who refuse to leave the nest, and meanwhile, Adam Scott's character, ostensibly the villain, has carved out his own life away from home. And Kathryn Hahn's character was an unfunny cartoon.
(And to anyone thinking that I'm reading too much into this film, please kill yourself. I like to care about the characters when I watch a movie.)
GET SMART was funny and if you didn't work in a place like in THE PROMOTION, of course the film's gonna seem awful.
ZACK AND MIRI looks funny, but then, it's Kevin Smith. I'm already there. -
Chris Nolan = perfect track record
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I just have to ask.... Why the hatred on Kevin Smith? Seriously. I'm just kind of curious. It seems like when his name is brought up on this site there are some real heated,passionate posts about how much he sucks or how great he is. It's almost like the political discussions, people really get fired up one way or another. It's interesting to me for some reason.
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All that came from a person who can't even spell "fuckin'".
That so puts me in my place.
Also, I've never even seen a STAR WARS movie. Where's your argument, now, Moses?! Oh, that's right. You didn't offer one as to why STEP BROTHERS is any good. My mistake. -
I meant a recent writer/director as in "written & directed by ..." like a Shyamalan or Lucas or Smith. Nolan comes close, but he's usually working with someone else (to his credit) and/or adapting someone else's work. That and I thought The Prestige went on a bit long (and the duplication machine didn't work for me) - but I know I'm in a minority here.
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HOLY FUCK I FIGURED IT OUT!!! THE AMBER SPYGLASS IS AN ANAGRAM FOR "BAGEL MAP SHYSTERS", WHICH OBVIOUSLY IS A REFERENCE TO HARVEY & BOB WEINSTEIN OF THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY WHICH HAS A PRODUCTION CREDIT FOR THIS MOVIE. WHAT THE FUCK DOES ALL THAT MEAN YOU ASK? PLANT!!!
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How can Chris Nolan have a perfect track record when The Dark Knight was complete and utter balls.
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He doesn't count as a writer/director. Almost, but no. Besides he directed Insomnia which while it had high production values and a good cast, was nothing special. Same could be said for The Prestige, but I won't.
Closest I can think of might be Brad Bird, but then comparing him to Kevin Smith is a little silly. -
you sir, need to have yourself a little nolan appreciation rewatching party.
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yeah
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Sep 13, 2008 5:45:27 AM CDT
"Can anyone name a recent writer/director who's had a perfect tr
by applescruff
Here's one, PAUL THOMAS FUCKING ANDERSON
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MIKE JUDGE
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SPIKE JONZE
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everyone is entitled to their opinion but then again everyone has different tastes. if everyone was the same nothing would sell. So answering the question no one has had a perfect track record.
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You can argue the merits of Thin Red Line or Eyes Wide Shut, but neither films were shite!
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(which would have nothing to do with personel tastes) would be Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorscese, Brian DePalma, George Lucas, John Landis etc etc. A lot of great directors have turned out flawed turkeys. They're all moviebrats though. I suppose the longer your around and the older you get, the easier it is to lose focus/heart. These new young guns have only made about four or five films.
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I won't even argue The Thin Red Line with anyone. It's perfect, in my opinion (yes, I'm an unapologetic Malick fan).
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and my topic as well (considering all directors mentioned aren't strictly writer/directors, and I did tell you to scratch the idea too - because it's totally subjective and hence pointless).
My bad I guess. I now return you to your regular imperfect track record of a talkback. -
I love me some Kevin Smith, his "evening with's" are great. I dig the smodcasts. I didn't think Jersey Girl was a total abortion either, but this "review" needs some pruning.
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Cuz I've seen the movie and it had 3 laughs in it. The reviewer couldn't hear what was being said because people were laughing so hard? Here's what you missed-"dick", "fuck", "suck my dick", "suck your own dick", "fuck", "ass fucking", "fucking ass fucking", "fucking ass fucking with my fucking dick". That about covers it. SEX DRIVE is way funnier. Amazing that Kevin Smith has not progressed as a screenwriter or director in 20 years. Not to mention the shameless ripoff of an Apatow flick. Crap.
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I haven't seen this but I'll bet a million dollars that Elizabeth Banks doesn't get naked. The lead girl almost never gets naked. And fucking with a bra on, WTF is that shit? Who fucks with a bra on? Then they'll release the DVD with the "With TITilating scenes we couldn't show in theaters!" sign over Elizabeth Banks' tits, and the deleted scene will be Smith in an unfunny cameo or something.
Oh yeah and PLANT. Or someone who just naturally writes like a marketing worm. -
sounds suspiciously like that golden compass books, am i right?
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jk Kevin I love all of your stuff except for Clerks 2 which I felt was very perfunctory and didn't milk enough of the fast food joint atmosphere for humor in the way part one did with the convenience and video store milieus. Jersey Girl I thought was very sweet and touching.
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"This reviewers a plant." "I hate Kevin Smith." "I like Kevin Smith." "Chasing Amy sucked" "Step Brothers sucked" repeat ad nauseum.
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You know it's true.
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In order to be funnier then Tropic Thunder. That movie was so good. People poop there pants about how Jake Gyllenhaal's Top should get an Osacar for TDK, Ironman deserves one for Tropic Thunder, and so do Throughx and Stiller for writing. Also Stiller is a much better director then Apatow and Smith combined in terms of technical work.
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It will be in the theatres for 2 weeks before it is pulled.
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Give me a P... give me an L... give me an ..........
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