Kevin Smith directs Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks and Craig Robinson in this adult comedy where two loser flatmates risk their friendship to make a XXX movie.

This movie’s box office chances really suffered with a constrained and tame marketing campaign. They couldn’t even have the film’s title on the TV spots. Which is a shame as it is easily Smith’s best venture that doesn’t feature Silent Bob. Rogen is at his comedic peak here and Banks (though way too hot for her role as written) is gifted the only leading man she’s has ever had chemistry with. It is the same extreme bawdy foul mouthed heart fest as a Clerks flick… just with a new ensemble and more nudity. The support from old hands like Jason Mewes and stunt casting like real life porn star Katie Morgan is very strong and surprisingly charming. Z&M is unlikely to be anyone’s all-time favourite movie but it certainly is a good time for a Thursday night in.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Mallrats (1995)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Richard Lester directs Rita Tushingham, Ray Brooks and Michael Crawford in this swinging sixties flick where a lothario schools his nebbish landlord.

Very much of it’s time. The first half is a lark. Ripping off the French New Wave on the streets on London like it is a gang show. The second half gets more serious about sexual politics. Very heavy handed and tone deaf. The sight of Frank Spencer pivoting around his unspent erections (albeit fully dressed) doesn’t help this not play like a musty relic.

5

Perfect Double Bill: The Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder directs Volker Spengler, Ingrid Caven and Gottfried John in this West German drama about a trans woman considering suicide.

I had to skip the lengthy unflinching sequence in a slaughterhouse.

4

Perfect Double Bill: The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972)

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George Stevens directs Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters in this drama where a young man on the rise into high society impregnates one woman and falls for another.

First time watch and I absolutely loved this. Every shot is ambitiously framed and pregnant with atmosphere. Taylor looks delectable, Winters puts in a memorable (if depressing) shift. Clift is amazing. You are completely trapped within in his headspace throughout. Even when the outlook is bleak and he is making terrible decisions. A true anti hero in that he is human, fallible and selfish. The final act is very strange as it feels filmed after he had his infamous car crash. It wasn’t, the accident occurred 5 years later. So it is happenstance but the camera avoids his face out of a certain profile and when it does it feels withered and scarred. Like Stevens is making an active choice in the final scenes to de-glamorize the beautiful star. Unfiltered, out of frame, out of focus. Did I bring that to the film? Probably but it is eerily uncanny how it plays like a production working itself around an injured star.

10

Perfect Double Bill: I Confess (1953)

Robert Stevenson directs Joan Fontaine, Orson Welles and Margaret O’Brien in this classic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel.

Visually, the black and white crispness is amazing. Gothic, often referencing the Universal horrors from a decade previous. I love Joan Fontaine but she is blatantly too naturally soft for this part. She isn’t helped by the fact that Orson is off away in his own little one man play. But Orson giving it large is a joy to watch and he makes the movie. The Mia Wasikowska version is probably the superior in terms of quality and faithfulness, but this is its own kind of pleasure. And young Elizabeth Taylor has an early fly by. What more do you want in 90 quick minutes?

8

Perfect Double Bill: I Walked With A Zombie (1943)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Gary Fleder directs Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy and Sean Bean in this thriller where a child psychologist must get a secret from a catatonic girl or his daughter dies.

Glossy and preposterous. There must be a more direct route for Sean Bean’s gang to get to their buried treasure than all… THIS. Forgettable sub-Hitchcock reheats with a techno twist. The one saving grace is a memorably frazzled and awkwardly sexy support turn from Murphy. Why was she at her hottest in asylums? “I’ll never tell. I’ll never tell.”

5

Perfect Double Bill: A Perfect Murder (1998)

Darren Aronofsky directs Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz and Regina King in this Nineties set crime caper.

Aronofsky is oh so much better when he just goes pure genre. This is essentially a love letter to True Romance only set in New York and with Patricia Arquette recast as a cat. Full of quirky crims, constant threats and broad, bold character work. I am no longer on any kind of fence about Butler. Exactly my jam. Going to have to read some of Charlie Huston’s Hank Thompson books now.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Killing Zöe (1994)

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Michael Shanks directs Alison Brie, Dave Franco and Damon Herriman in this body horror relationship comedy.

As much War Of The Roses as Society. The disgusting FX are excellent apart from one shot at the end. Brie and Franco are electric together. Nice lore, not over explained but let you know just enough to fill in the blanks. A gleefully uncomfortable satire on marriage and a nasty blast of fun. I laughed a lot.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Society (1989)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin

Celine Song directs Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal in this romance where a high end Manhatthan matchmaker must chose between her ideal man and her flawed (poor) ex.

Beautiful looking movie with a stunning three header of honeys. The satire on entitlement and expectation would work better if it wasn’t so deadpan and full of pregnant pauses. The funny lines have zero zip. There is a strong story here but it is too in love with its own themes to really chime. Celine Song thinks subtext is for cowards. Shout out to Chris Evans’ tall, handsome, emotionally intelligent underdog with a full head of hair and only… ONLY… two thousand dollars in savings. What a pauper! Hope he makes it.

6

Perfect Double Bill: Hitch (2005)

Mike Flanagan directs Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jacob Tremblay in this magical realist drama set around the slow end of a world.

Flanagan’s house style is patient. Melodrama, monologue and cosmic tumblers clicking into place. So… much like Weapons, the drip feed nature of the storytelling does grate on the occasions when you are ahead of the reveal. It is all just a beat too drawn out. The positive I went home with was there was a lot less Tom Hiddleston than the marketing suggested. Damp praise? The ensemble is cosy and comforting, there are some visually exciting sequences. But we don’t need any propaganda that white kids invented the moonwalk, thank you very much Quantum Leap!

6

Perfect Double Bill: Weapons (2025)