Sex Drive (UR-2008)

"Sex Drive" can arguably be considered to be a remake of Rob Reiner's classic film, "The Sure Thing" with John Cusack. Both follow the same basic framework: An "unlucky at love" High School-er makes a long pilgrimage to meet a "sure thing", ending up learning more about himself along the way. Now, in terms of "classics", "The Sure Thing" is a much better film. "Sex Drive" is more of a push-the-envelope sex comedy than it is a true character study. That's not to say it isn't any good. It actually is a very funny comedy and star Josh Zuckerman actually reminds me a little of a young John Cusack. James Marsden, as his psycho older brother (a role much like the Chet character in "Weird Science"), is hilarious and is quickly becoming one of my favorite comedic actors (who, incidentally, can do drama just as well). The show-stealing performance, not all that surprisingly, is Seth Green, who plays a sarcastic Amish man who strangely knows a lot about automotive repair. Seth Green is simply one of the funniest people in Hollywood today. Another scene-stealing performance was the two school friends who blatantly hit on every single female they see, carrying on like they are the epitome of confidence, yet you never really see them succeed. In a movie like this, you certainly don't want to over-analyze the plot, but the one major thing that bothered me was the "best friend" character (Clark Duke). Here is a guy that is just as geeky as the lead, if not more so, but the women he meets along the way are drawn to him like flies. Gorgeous women just can not get enough of him. They try to explain this early on with a big "confidence" speech ("It's all about how you carry yourself, bro"), but it falls short because the women are drawn to him instantly with no time to "feel the vibe". Again, you can't over-think this stuff, but it did become a distraction to me. I mean, an Amish car mechanic is much more unrealistic, but it was funny enough to buy into it. Geek-boy the Stud was not. The movie builds toward a very over-the-top finale, which worked because it was very funny. Overall, a decent comedy with plenty of laughs. Certainly not for younger audiences as it's "R" rating was definitely earned (although I watched an Unrated cut).

Grade: C+

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