Thanks for checking out our Sex Drive review.
There is a huge slew of teen style comedies that have come out this year, and for the most part they end up being complete drivel (with a few exceptions). When the first couple of promotional spots for the new film “Sex Drive” started to appear, I really didn’t think this one was going to be any better. Nothing in the ads impressed me very much, and to be totally honest… if I hadn’t been traveling the last couple of weeks and been unable to see ANY movies, I probably would have turned down the invitation to go see the press screening of this last night.
But, because it’s been a little while since I’ve been able to enjoy a flick in theater I decided to go. Was it the total waste of time I suspected it would be… or would I be glad I ventured out to see it? VERY GLAD!
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Sex Drive looks something like this: “Eighteen-year-old Ian Lafferty sets out on a cross country drive with his best friends Lance and Felicia in order to lose his virginity to a red-hot babe he met on the Internet. But the journey, filled with hilarious misadventures and raunchy escapades, teaches all three more than they expected about life and love. Randy, raucous and unexpectedly romantic, Sex Drive follows three friends on the road trip of a lifetime!
Ian Lafferty (Josh Zuckerman) can’t seem to catch a break. He’s taunted by his cocksure older brother Rex (James Marsden), shown up in the romance department by his 14-year-old younger brother and humiliated by his job at a mall donut shop. But Ian’s biggest problem is that he’s about to start college as a virgin!
Getting nowhere with the girl of his dreams and longtime best friend Felicia (Amanda Crew), Ian resorts to the Internet for dates. He soon hooks up with Ms. Tasty, a flaming hot blonde who can’t wait to get busy. The only catch: Ian has to drive 500 miles from Chicago to Knoxville to consummate the deal.
Egged on by his devil-may-care pal Lance (Clark Duke), Ian risks life and limb by appropriating The Judge, Rex’s prized vintage Pontiac GTO. With Lance and Felicia in tow, he hits the road for a one-time rendezvous that will rock his world!
Car trouble, a stint in the pokey, a buggy tow with an Amish farmer (Seth Green) and an afternoon at a roadside carnival all complicate Ian’s journey. As he presses on to get to Knoxville before Ms. Tasty gives up and goes home, the trio’s trail of mayhem closes in on them with hilarious consequences. Will Rex find Ian before he reaches Nirvana? Will a cuckolded husband exact revenge on Lance just as he seems to have found true love? Will Ms. Tasty live up to her Internet profile? Will Ian realize what he really wants? And most importantly, Will Ian, Felicia and Lance survive the bumpy road to adulthood with all its unexpected twists and turns?”
THE GOOD
This film is just flat out hilarious. I don’t think I laughed this much at a movie since Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Right from the opening of the film… which at first felt a bit cheap but then instantly punches you in the face with hilarity… the movie had me laughing out loud with the cleaver absurdity (many comedies use absurdity, but this one seemed a lot more cleaver to me) and well set up traditional and visual punch lines throughout. I just can’t emphasize this point enough… this is a VERY funny movie and for a comedy that’s the most important thing.
James Marsden continues to impress the hell out of me with his diversity and his ability to knock it out of the park regardless of the type of role he’s playing. A superhero in X-Men, a dancing singing TV host in Hairspray, and now a douchebag, hyper testoseroned gearhead big brother in Sex Drive. Without exaggeration, every single moment that James Marsden is on screen is absolute gold. Don’t get me wrong, the 3 leads of this movie were all very good, but this film was totally stolen by two of the side characters… this one by James Marsden, and the second one by…
Seth Green. Dear sweet heavens… Seth Green. You know, I keep waiting for myself to get tired of Seth Green. On the surface he doesn’t strike you as being all that talented, and I guess that’sa good thing because it means he can keep surprising me. Holy crap, Seth Green plays a seriously good hearted Amish guy who just so happens to also be very world wise and can fix just about any car on the road with the most wicked , dry and sarcastic sense of humor. Green KILLS you in this role and had me almost spitting out my pop just by HOW he said his lines even more than the lines themselves (which were also hilarious in their own right… but Green just took it up a notch). This guy is a genius and I’m starting to suspect perhaps one of the best pure comedic performers around. Why haven’t I really accepted that or appreciated that before?
The traditionally nerdy guy is actually the cool guy. I liked that.
THE BAD
There are great comedies out there that are both smart and funny. Movies like The 40 Year Old Virgin often comes to mind when I think of that distinction. Sadly, as funny as Sex Drive is, it’s pretty much as thin as paper with no depth at all to any of the characters and no “real” story to be told.
The artificial and painfully contrived “romance” between two of the main characters was just dreadful and nauseating to watch unfold on the screen. It did set up some funny gags along the way, but ultimately was hyper cliched, eye gougingly obvious and just plain stupid the way they unfolded it.
OVERALL
Sex Drive is a very thin and poorly made movie. But as a comedy it hits on all cylinders and has you laughing from start to finish and ultimately that is the most important task of the comedy genre. Yeah it’s always nice if you can do the other elements well at the same time (this one didn’t), but when the credits roll you know you’ve had a very good and entertaining time at the theaters. Damn thing made me laugh my ass off. Overall I give Sex Drive an 8 out of 10.
