Sex Drive (2008)

Director:

Sean Anders

Writers (WGA):

Sean Anders (screenplay) &
John Morris (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

He's leaving virgin territory

Plot:

A high school senior drives cross-country with his best friends to hook up with a babe he met online.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | High School | Amish | Sex | Friendship

Cast

Josh Zuckerman	...	Ian
Amanda Crew	...	Felicia
Clark Duke	...	Lance
James Marsden	...	Rex
Seth Green	...	Ezekiel
Alice Greczyn	...	Mary
Katrina Bowden	...	Ms. Tasty
Charlie McDermott	...	Andy (as Charles McDermott)
Mark L. Young	...	Randy
Cole Petersen	...	Dylan
Dave Sheridan	...	Bobby Jo
Michael Cudlitz	...	Rick
Allison Weissman	...	Becca
Andrea Anders	...	Brandy
Kim Ostrenko	...	Ian's Stepmom

Also Known As:

Sexdrive (USA) (promotional title)
Untitled Teen Road Movie (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, language, some drug and alcohol use - all involving teens.

Runtime:

109 min | 129 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44556) | Australia:MA | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Finland:K-13 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:11 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:M18 (cut) | New Zealand:R16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 | Norway:11 | Chile:14 | Mexico:B15 | Iceland:12 | South Korea:18 | Italy:T

Filming Locations:

Belle Glade, Florida, USA

Company:

Summit Entertainment

Trivia:

Both Seth Green (Ezekiel) and Katrina Bowden (Ms. Tasty) have appeared in Fall Out Boy music videos before this film. Seth Green is in the funeral scene of in "It Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" and Katrina Bowden was the mean girl dancing with Patrick Stump in "Dance Dance".

Goofs:

Continuity: After leaving the trailer and being chased through the corn by the jealous boyfriend the corn is green, later in the film a corn field is completely brown.

Quotes:

Ian: [handing Felicia a new t-shirt] Another one for the collection.
Felicia: Oh, cool. Thanks.
[she stares at nothing leaning on the GTO]
Ian: What?
[she points down on the car roof. Lance is on the back seat comforting a sobbing Brandy]
Lance: It's okay, Brandy. it's okay, baby, don't cry.
Ian: Lance, what are you doing?
Lance: Dude, you should be ashamed of yourself, because I'm just trying to show another human being a little compassion.
[pause]
Lance: And my dick.

Movie Connections:

References Top Gun (1986)

Soundtrack:

Just the Tip

This decade's "Road Trip"

So there was a screening of Sex Drive at the theatre, so I thought "what the hell?"

From the preview, I thought it could have gone one of three ways: 1. A horrible attempt at an R-rated comedy in the same fashion of a pretty good comedy a decade ago. (Like College tried for American Pie, and failed) 2. A mediocre R-rated comedy with bits here and there. 3. A movie that knows what it's going for and hits its mark.

I would have to say, this movie is very close to #3. The movie isn't a great movie, but it has no delusions on what it is. With the plot of a guy driving cross state just to get some ass, there's not a lot of directions you can go with it. The makers know this, so they make the best of it.

No real need to stress much on the story. It's simple, basic, predictable. Bad? I wouldn't say that. The story is really more of a momentum pusher than anything. It's really only there to prevent this from being a series of jokes and gags just jumbled together. There's no real big twist, a few lessons to be taken form it, but they all have been done before. You can pretty much tell what's going to happen at the end within the first 15 minutes. But the story isn't really the important thing here, so no real points taken off for that.

All the actors are good. Clichéd, yes, but they are likable. The goofy, virgin lead guy who's trying to get some tail is played wonderfully by Josh Zuckerman. Pulls it off flawlessly with all the awkwardness and uncertainty that the character would have. Amanda Crew is also really good at the "BFF" of Josh's character. The two have pretty good chemistry, even with all their awkwardly close moments. It isn't perfect, but being in some of those awkward situations, they were (while pushed a bit) familiar.

A surprise is James Marsden. You may remember him as Cyclops from X-Men, and he pulls off a great punk-ass older brother with a sense of humor of his own. He is the typical ass hole older brother in these kind of movies, but he pulls it over very well. Seth Green just seems like he's cruising through the movie. I think he's got a lot of talent and I knew even if the movie was going to be bad, he would provide a good set of laughs. And as a sarcastic Amish engineer genius, he's just fits in this movie seamlessly.

But I have to give a lot of credit to Clark Duke. His first real movie. He was a party extra in Superbad, if I'm not mistaken, the one who called McLovin' a bad ass. Like Seth Green, he just seems to glide through. He also has great chemistry with Josh Zuckerman. You can tell the two of them just had a really good time together on this. He is the suave ladies man who's guiding his pathetic best friend on his verge of losing his virginity, while getting some action himself. He doesn't have the look of the typical character, but he pulls it off excellently.

I put a lot of emphasis on the characters and actors. They were the backbone of the movie. Not the story, but the characters. There's also a hand full of supporting characters that do a good job at their parts, and an unwelcome (well, for me it was unwelcome) appearance by Fall Out Boy.

There are few things worse than a comedy that's not funny. There have been a serious excess of those as well. Dane Cook just had a movie a few weeks ago, and that was a haggard piece of crap. I actually have to say though, I laughed quite a bit in this movie. With the plot, there are going to be quite a few of the sex jokes, involving spooge, penises and homosexuality. Most of them though actually delivered. I can't actually say there were too many flat moments with the jokes. Yes, there were some, but the jokes that worked out-weighed those that didn't.

The climax got really over-the-top, but it did continue on with the laughs, and was satisfying. The closure did take a bit longer than necessary, but didn't drag. The movie was actually well paced and I was never bored.

This is no Superbad. It's not anywhere in that league. I walked out of this movie saying "This is 2000's Road Trip." No, Road Trip wasn't a masterpiece or one of those comedy powerhouses, but it was really good for what it was going for. An over-the-top, R-rated comedy. See it with a group of friends in the theatre. Definitely see it with a crowd, it will probably make it that much more enjoyable. 3.75/5

Also, if you saw the trailer and had no interest, then you probably would want to skip it. It has it's intended audience, and will probably please those people and few others.