Sex Drive

I admit it, I'm somewhat of a film snob. I'm leery of most of what Hollywood has to offer. I prefer cult, art-house, independent more often than not. But I have my guilty pleasures, if you will. I have a weakness for teen/college comedies, usually the raunchier the better. The early Ryan Reynolds/Kal Penn vehicle Van Wilder (2002)? Loved it. Road Trip (2000), that introduced us all to the goofy, skinny Tennesseean DJ Qualls? Seen it about 10 times. Greg Mottola's 2007 effort Superbad? Laughed so hard I almost pissed. You get the idea? I blame John Hughes (rest in peace, buddy), who cleverly manipulated my formative years with his particular brand of '80s teen dramedy. The movies changed, became less drama, more screwball, but the groundwork had already been laid. And so it is that I find myself renting all these teen comedies with even a glimmer of potential. It's in my blood or something.

As these films go, Sex Drive (2008) falls toward the lower end of the spectrum. There's not an ounce of original material. There's the boy-and-girl-best-friends-but-there's-sexual-tension-so-maybe-they-should-be-more-but-they-don't-want-to-ruin-it main characters Ian and Felicia (Josh Zuckerman and Amanda Crew). There's the by-all-appearances-total-nerd-but-something-of-a-womanizing-ladies-man-who-gives-sage-advice-but-then-falls-in-love-with-someone-totally-unlikely character Lance (Clark Duke). Seth Green graces the film with his presence, which in a way is good, but yet he's just playing every other Seth Green character ever, except he's Amish. Ooooh, how gloriously ironic! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's the obviously-secretly-gay-older-brother-but-he-overcompensates-with-militant-heterosexuality-and-misplaced-rage guy, admittedly portrayed well and hilariously by James Marsden. And of course, there's the so-tired-it's-dead central plot, which revolves around Ian trying desperately to lose his virginity (seriously, is this still a problem? is it so incredibly difficult to lose one's virginity? I kinda figured it's about as easy as losing change out of your pocket). He's so desperate, he lets his doucheface friend Lance talk him into driving 8 hours to have sex with some bimbo he met online. So, yeah, it's also got the road trip theme thrown in for good measure.

This film is annoyingly hit-and-miss. There are some really funny bits, notably a pair of losers, a sort of Bill & Ted/Night at the Roxbury mash-up, inseparable and unendingly hitting on the ladies in vain. But the laughs are few and far between, while the filmmakers take all the hopelessly unfunny bits and draw them out. And you know, it's no wonder our friend Ian isn't getting laid, because his voice hasn't even changed yet. It's squeaky and piercing and annoying, and most of the movie, I just wished he would shut up. Except for when he was ensconced in his Mexican donut mascot costume, in which case the voice seemed to fit and he magically became 10 times funnier.

The bottom line here is if you're in to this genre of film, you could do much better than Sex Drive. It was vaguely worth a viewing, but I wouldn't watch it again.

Storyline & plot: 2/10
Cinematography & effects: 6/10
Music & mood: 5/10
Performances: 5/10

The Reverend says: 5/10