Published: Friday, October 17, 2008
Typical teen sex comedy handled with some flair
If "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" felt like the latest version of a certain sweet-natured teen romance that gets recycled every few years, then "Sex Drive" is the unsweetened product.
Even the ad campaign tries to draw the line from "Animal House" to "American Pie" to this movie. And in case we didn't get the clue, the opening scene is a direct steal from the self-pleasuring embarrassment of "American Pie."
Director and co-writer Sean Anders, adapting a novel by Andy Behrens called "All the Way," keeps things strictly to formula. Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is a sexually inexperienced teen whose only prospect is a woman he met online. Her handle is "Ms. Tasty."
There are a few problems. One is that she lives 900 miles away in Knoxville, and Ian doesn't have a car. And, as his friend Lance (Clark Duke) keeps pointing out, Ms. Tasty could turn out to be an overweight middle-aged dud with bad teeth.
The only car around belongs to Ian's hyperventilatingly hostile brother, played to perfection by "X-Men" star James Marsden. The only thing to do is "borrow" the car for the weekend, have Lance ride shotgun, and head for Knoxville.
Ian's friend Felicia (Amanda Crew) tags along. The movie barely bothers to disguise the fact that Felicia and Ian are meant for each other but just haven't figured it out yet, as this device has been used so often in the past.
In a bid to create a new version of the Anthony Michael Hall character from "Sixteen Candles," the filmmakers have made Lance the geeky yet somehow successful womanizer. At first pudgy, bespectacled Clark Duke seems an unlikely choice for this role, but eventually you just sort of accept him in it.
He gets some laughs, and so does Seth Green, that reliable go-to guy for improv comedy. Green plays a bearded Amish mechanic, whose deadpan sarcasm is a reliable source of humor.
So "Sex Drive" is a road movie, and a coming-of-age comedy, with a touch of "Superbad" gross-out stuff and male bonding. The film isn't incompetent, and there's a certain shrewdness in its mechanics. It will undoubtedly work on its target audience. I guess that means it's a success, but boy, does it make me want the serious autumn movies to start rolling in.
Even the ad campaign tries to draw the line from "Animal House" to "American Pie" to this movie. And in case we didn't get the clue, the opening scene is a direct steal from the self-pleasuring embarrassment of "American Pie."
Director and co-writer Sean Anders, adapting a novel by Andy Behrens called "All the Way," keeps things strictly to formula. Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is a sexually inexperienced teen whose only prospect is a woman he met online. Her handle is "Ms. Tasty."
There are a few problems. One is that she lives 900 miles away in Knoxville, and Ian doesn't have a car. And, as his friend Lance (Clark Duke) keeps pointing out, Ms. Tasty could turn out to be an overweight middle-aged dud with bad teeth.
The only car around belongs to Ian's hyperventilatingly hostile brother, played to perfection by "X-Men" star James Marsden. The only thing to do is "borrow" the car for the weekend, have Lance ride shotgun, and head for Knoxville.
Ian's friend Felicia (Amanda Crew) tags along. The movie barely bothers to disguise the fact that Felicia and Ian are meant for each other but just haven't figured it out yet, as this device has been used so often in the past.
In a bid to create a new version of the Anthony Michael Hall character from "Sixteen Candles," the filmmakers have made Lance the geeky yet somehow successful womanizer. At first pudgy, bespectacled Clark Duke seems an unlikely choice for this role, but eventually you just sort of accept him in it.
He gets some laughs, and so does Seth Green, that reliable go-to guy for improv comedy. Green plays a bearded Amish mechanic, whose deadpan sarcasm is a reliable source of humor.
So "Sex Drive" is a road movie, and a coming-of-age comedy, with a touch of "Superbad" gross-out stuff and male bonding. The film isn't incompetent, and there's a certain shrewdness in its mechanics. It will undoubtedly work on its target audience. I guess that means it's a success, but boy, does it make me want the serious autumn movies to start rolling in.
Story tags »
• Movies"Sex Drive" (two stars)
Competent: The usual coming-of-age sex comedy, this time about a teen traveling to Knoxville to meet an online seductress. Some of the actors (notably James Marsden and Seth Green) gets some good laughs, so the thing isn't totally a wash.
Rated: R, for nudity, language, subject matter.)
Now playing: Alderwood Mall, Everett, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Mountlake, Metro, Pacific Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall
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