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Back in the ‘80s, the teen comedy was king—with movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and (one of my personal favorites) Better Off Dead exploring love, life, and even (occasionally) sex through the eyes of teenagers. In the ‘90s, Hollywood all but gave up on trying to make angsty, grunge-loving teens laugh. But the pendulum swung back a decade ago, when American Pie brought the teen comedy back into the spotlight—only bigger, bolder, and more offensive than ever. Since then, it seems that the industry has been inundated with teen sex comedies. For the most part, they all have their entertaining moments, but they’re little more than cheap knock-offs. So I expected more of the same from Sex Drive—but I was in for a big surprise.
Josh Zuckerman stars as Ian Lafferty, a shy 18-year-old who’s never really had a way with the ladies. So when Ms. Tasty, a gorgeous Internet blonde announces that she’ll have sex with him if he’ll drive out to Knoxville to meet her, Ian steals his brother’s ’69 GTO and heads off with his best friends, Lance (Clark Duke) and Felicia (Amanda Crew), to put this whole virginity thing behind him once and for all.
But, of course, things don’t go exactly as planned. On the road from Chicago to Knoxville, they run into all kinds of obstacles, from car trouble to an angry ex. They manage to stay on the road with some help from a smart-ass Amish guy (Seth Green), but they’re running out of time, and Ian worries that Ms. Tasty will give up on him before he gets to Knoxville—or, worse yet, that his brother, Rex (James Marsden), will get to him first.
More than just another run-of-the-mill teen sex comedy, Sex Drive is filled with surprises. Some are disturbing, some are outrageously funny, and some are even oddly sweet. And that makes for a winning combination.
Of course, the idea of Sex Drive isn’t exactly surprising—and the comparisons to 1985’s The Sure Thing (in which John Cusack hitches a cross-country ride with a girl he hates in the hopes of hooking up with a “sure thing” in California) are inevitable. But, fortunately, the writing is anything but predictable—and, as a result, the story feels more original than it really is.
Sex Drive is such a random hodge-podge of genres that it offers a little bit of something for everyone. It’s a crude, horny teen comedy about a guy who sets out to get laid. It’s a road trip adventure, complete with all kinds of random complications along the way. It’s a buddy movie, in which three best friends learn more about each other—and themselves. It’s a coming-of-age story, with a young man finding out who he is and what’s important in life. And it’s a chick flick, with various characters finding love in the end. There’s even a little bit of action (one of my favorite scenes, in fact, involves a gun-toting donut).
None of that would matter, though, if Sex Drive weren’t cleverly written and well executed. The laughs are more than just the same old throwaways. The main characters, meanwhile, go beyond the same old stereotypes, and the minor characters only add to the laughs—especially Green, who’s easily the funniest he’s been in years.
I guess you could say that Sex Drive is like a box of fresh, filled donuts: you never really know what to expect from your next bite, but you can bet it’ll be tasty.
DVD Review:
The two-disc special edition DVD release of Sex Drive is more like a three-disc release, since it includes a two-sided feature disc—with one side for the original version (plus a commentary track) and one side for the unrated (and “cream-filled”) version. The unrated version includes 20 extra minutes, including an introductory warning by co-creators Sean Anders and John Morris, who explain that the extended edition is a “silly, for-fans-only” edition and warning first-time viewers to start with the theatrical version. By all means, take their advice. The unrated edition is truly silly, with ridiculously random nudity and goofy sound effects thrown in for more pointless, sophomoric laughs. That’s not to say that it isn’t funny—the additional ad-libs are often hilarious—but it’s definitely not for everyone. And if you do choose to watch this version, it might be best to polish off a couple of drinks first.
Other extras include a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek making-of feature, featurettes on both Duke and Marsden, and a long and bizarre (yet oddly funny) home video, entitled Killing Time in Hollywood (Florida), which shows the cast members wreaking havoc throughout their hotel on their day off.
Thanks to its quick-witted silliness and the filmmakers’ easy-going, sophomoric sense of humor, Sex Drive deserves to become an essential part of dorm room DVD collections on college campuses everywhere. It’s just the thing for a late-night laugh.
