|
|
Movie Review: Sex Drive
‘Sex Drive’ a fun ride
By Michael Farrar
Special to 2theadvocate.com
|
PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
out of 4 stars.
Not much.
Fortunately, "Sex Drive" remixes this tired movie formula by going back to the basics with a realistic character who is struggling to lose his virginity.
Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is a lovable loser who is facing his senior year of high school and desperate to do the deed. Girls tease him into embarrassing situations, then dismiss his meek advances. To make matters worse, Ian’s big brother (James Marsden) is a high-testosterone, muscle-headed jerk who lives to mock him.
The only thing that seems to be working out for him is an online girlfriend named Ms. Tasty (Katrina Bowden). Texting smooth lines to her is easy, but that doesn’t relieve his raging hormones.
Borrowing from the "Risky Business" playbook, Ian's family is leaving him alone. However, he's not staying at home. Ian’s best friend, Lance (Clark Duke), pushes him into stealing his brother's flashy 1969 GTO muscle car for a road trip to “meet” Ms. Tasty a few states away.
This film wisely gives Ian real feelings and friends to balance out the semi-raunchy laughs along the way. One of the hidden pleasures in "Sex Drive" is Seth Green, who is quietly hilarious as (believe it or not) a worldly Amish farmer.
Putting the wise-cracking Green in an Amish horse-drawn buggy may sound like a barnyard joke, but it somehow works on a subtle level of messing with your expectations.
Zuckerman's presence as Ian also reminds me of a young John Cusack, and it's fair to compare "Sex Drive" to the early Cusack classic "The Sure Thing."
However, as far as story structure is concerned, a better movie comparison would be "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Just like in Ferris’ classic day of adventure, “Sex Drive" allows each of its characters to re-examine where they are going in life.
Even though a portion of the movie teeters on the absurd, "Sex Drive" is as close to solid film as any sex farce I’ve seen. It has a refreshing burst of creativity with heartfelt characters and laughs.
Most sex comedies overdose on bathroom/bodily fluid humor that adds up to nothing more than a hormone-drenched stunt show. “Sex Drive," on the other hand, manages to be inventive with just the right balance of raunchy and genuine to make it a funny and very entertaining coming-of-age film.
