Review of Sex Drive (2003) by James R — 30 Nov 2009

I have to hand it to Sean Anders and the people who put this film together: they are experts at just not taking themselves too seriously. If the theatrical movie itself does not convince you of that, watch the intro to the unrated version, and you will see exactly what I mean. But even without that five minutes of self-mockery, it is clear that Sex Drive is both going way over the top and making fun of movies that go way over the top. And in some ways, in doing so it ends up being quite hilarious. Clark Duke's character is a laugh a minute, and Seth Green contributes a priceless comprimario as a very worldly Amish man. And of course, the ending wraps up all the crazy hijinks in a perfect bow, which is practically necessary in a movie of this type.

Here's the thing, though. Despite the fact that some of this film's gags ended up being funny, more of them ended up entering the American Pie School of Pushing the Envelope for Its Own Sake. A dildo on a donut suit, Amish Girls Gone Wild, stripteasers for abstinence, the freaky trailer trash gas station cashier, lying over the internet to get virtually laid, the road trip gimmick itself, the huge level of patheticness evinced by the protagonist, and of course the hot best friend who falls in love with him...I'm thinking to myself "I can't believe they actually did that," and not in a good way.

In other words, after seeing three American Pies, both Van Wilders, both Waitings, three Road Trips, Animal House, both Porky's and There's Something About Mary, to say nothing of the works of Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow, I'm really becoming very inured to the type of puerile gags that Sex Drive is filled with. They are becoming progressively more predictable and progressively less funny. So what I'm sure Sean Anders et all felt was a great coming-of-age journey with substantial humor...wasn't. I really hope that the movie wasn't supposed to have undertones of Homer, because about the only thing Sex Drive has in common with The Odyssey is that both protagonists could have used a travel agent.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure this movie will be the end of James Marsden's career for a while. He's had so many great roles recently, and I've had him on a short list of the better character actors working today...and then he took his "angry yet latently homosexual older brother" role in this film (speaking of lame gags), and I lost literally 95% of the respect for him I previously had. I was mentioning his name along with Stellan Skarsgaard and Jean Reno; now I think of it along with Seann William Scott and Ryan Reynolds. What a waste.