Sex Drive

By Kate Xian
October 17, 2008

Vroom, vroom. We all know that a teenage boy’s hormones are always raging out of control and the opening scene of Sex Drive is, in my humblest opinion, on par to an Animal House-esque, or for all the newer generations out there, on par with the classic American Pie laughs. Based off the book All the Way by Andy Behrens, this teenage sex comedy starring a cast full of newcomers as a misfit trio out to devirginize the leader of the pack, Ian (Josh Zuckerman) on a roadtrip that is destined to become wacky, weird, and mildly entertaining. Sex Drive also features the always lovable James Marsden as the only marquee name on the cast list.

Marsden takes a side role in Sex Drive and it is, in actuality a refreshing role to see him in. He’s always the good guy and painfully so. How many times does he really have to stand aside for a good woman? He took the brunt of love in The Notebook, X-Men, Enchanted, Superman and...well in 27 Dresses he gets the girl (oh c’mon like you didn’t see that one coming). Taking a turn down machismo lane, Marsden plays the annoying yet likable Rex, big bro to lead character Ian, the shy, unassuming Joe Blow. Marsden plays his role as over the top, and not always to its intended laughs, but nonetheless he gets the job done.

The film opens with Ian chatting online with “Ms. Tasty.” An online girlfriend that he’s created an entire facade for, filled with hot cars, a hot football body and about every other thing a guy thinks up to impress a woman. His late night conversation leads to a steamy wet dream and well, you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out how his step-mother-to-be reacts.

Ian’s trio is made up of his two best friends, Felicia (Amanda Crew), and the surprising Casa Nova Lance, played by Clark Duke, a glasses toting, scarf wearing, meaty teenager. Needless to say a love triangle takes shape as the three embark on Ian’s quest to lose his virginity to “Ms. Tasty.” Tired of being of the brunt of jokes, finding dildos in odd places (well, in retrospect not logistically odd), getting rejected by the not-so-cute, and well being the hot and bothered teen with no release, he takes up “Ms. Tasty’s” offer and drives off with his pals for weekend to make a late-night rendezvous to meet up with her for a night of deflowering.

The film drives down a path of predictable outcomes and predictable “unexpected” people they meet along the way. As they try so hard to make the film funny being filled with surprises, it only backfires as the unexpected becomes expected and filled with an over the top that we’ve seen done over and over and over again before. The infamous donut costume became the greatest tool for comedy and without it, the film would have fallen much harder than it does. Without being slapstick funny, Zuckerman employs the donut suit, as anyone else would, kinda awkward and kinda as a protective shield, making for the best laughs that pay off.

Though Sex Drive has its obvious flaws and conventional laughs, it is one of the funnier teen sex comedies I’ve seen since American Pie. It has the same tone and sentiment, and some of the same laughs, but just didn’t hit the mark as well. I think the film was cleverly cast with virtually all unknowns. The film definitely would not have played off as well if we had Zach Efron, Amanda Bynes and Jonah Hill starring. Zuckerman, Crew, and Duke just somehow fit. And when the focus is on making a story the best it can be, sometimes A-list (or B-list rather?) stars just isn’t the way to go.

Wide Release Date: October 17, 2008
Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Director: Sean Anders
Screenplay: Sean Anders, John Morris Producer: Bob Levy, Leslie Morgenstein, John Morris
Executive Producers: Michael Nelson
Music: Stephen Trask
Director of Photography: Tim Orr
Editor: George Folsey Jr.