Blu-Ray Review: ‘Sex Drive: Unrated and Cream-filled’ Edition Delivers What Title Promises

BrianTT — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:03:58 -0700

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray for the raunchy teen comedy “Sex Drive” is simply ridiculous. And I think I mean that in a good way. As a DVD critic, I’m constantly faced with “Unrated” editions that don’t really live up to their name. You can say a lot about “Sex Drive,” but the Blu-Ray is undeniably “Unrated and Cream-filled”.

We’ve all seen unrated DVDs with a minute or two of extra footage, none of which would have earned the film anything harder than an R in theaters. That is NOT the case with “Sex Drive”. Playing with the very concept of “Unrated” DVDs, the team behind “Sex Drive” have made what I would call the “Horny Stoner Version” of their teen sex comedy and it almost needs to be seen to be believed.

Sex Drive was released on Blu-Ray on February 24th, 2009.
Photo credit: Summit

The unrated version, which the writers warn you sucks at the beginning, includes twenty minutes of gratuitous nudity and alternate takes. How gratuitous? Occasionally, they’ll just green screen in some boobs or a flaccid penis. It’s ridiculous but the guts it took to even burn it to Blu-Ray is somewhat admirable.

Sex Drive was released on Blu-Ray on February 24th, 2009.
Photo credit: Summit

But what about the movie itself? Watch a bit of the unrated version just to admire its ridiculousness, but stick with the theatrical version, a so-so teen sex comedy that will play better at homes than it did in theaters. Not nearly on the scale of “Superbad” or even the “Harold and Kumar” movies, “Sex Drive” feels ultimately hollow but features some pretty original supporting performances. Even still, kids will need some serious beer goggles to get over all of the flaws of “Sex Drive”.

The problem is that we’ve seen all of these characters before. I’ve long said that writers of teen sex flicks underestimate their audiences desire to see something new. “Superbad” worked because it felt fresh. Nothing about “Sex Drive” feels fresh. Only the levels of alcohol poisoning have changed.

Once again, we have the awkward virgin who’s really in love with his best friend and the slick player who will surely be taught a lesson about love by the film’s end. The lovable loser this time is Josh (Ian Zuckerman), the best friend is Felicia (Amanda Crew), and the playa is Lance (Clark Duke). In an inspired bit of casting, Duke, most well-known for the internet phenomenon “Clark and Michael” with best friend Michael Cera, is not the first person most would think of for a ladies man. It’s the only thing inspired about “Sex Drive”.

Duke has good comic timing and supporting players Seth Green and James Marsden can be very funny but Zuckerman and Crew are a black hole for comedy, sucking the project in with boring characters and dull personalities.

Sex Drive was released on Blu-Ray on February 24th, 2009.
Photo credit: Summit

Ian works at a donut shop at the mall and has been communicating with an online girlfriend (he hopes) named Ms_Tasty. The road movie begins when the object of Ian’s e-affection says she’ll do him if he comes down to Knoxville. The trio pile into their brother’s ‘69 GTO and begins a series of unusual encounters with an angry hitchhiker, sex-crazed redneck, and a sarcastic Amish guy.

The writers clearly know that “Sex Drive” is derivative and their solution was merely to push up the gross-out humor to eleven. The movie opens with underwear soaked in male fluids hitting a woman in the face and spend another 105 minutes trying to top it. It’s gross-out desperation. And it reeks.

The movie is saved from complete disaster by Duke, Green, and Marsden (who is clearly having a blast improvising a riff on Sean William Scott’s Stifler or, even more appropriately, Bill Paxton’s Chet from “Weird Science”), but the awkward, poorly cast leads and the lackluster script cause this car to break down long before it reaches its destination.

The “Unrated and Creme-filled” version of “Sex Drive” includes the aforementioned unrated edition, a filmmaker audio commentary on the original version, the hilariously named “Sex Drive: Making a Masterpiece,” “The Marsden Dilemma,” and “Clark: Duke of the Internet”. The film is presented in 1080p with a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

‘Sex Drive: Unrated and Cream-filled’ is released by Summit Home Video and stars Josh Zuckerman, Amanda Crew, Clark Duke, Seth Green, and James Marsden. It was written by Sean Anders & John Morris and directed by Anders. It was released on February 24th, 2009. It is rated R and unrated.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Hookup: 40 Admit-Two Passes to Chicago Screening of ‘Sex Drive’ With James Marsden, Seth Green

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:03:56 -0600

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago screening of “Sex Drive,” which stars James Marsden, Seth Green, Clark Duke, Josh Zuckerman and Amanda Crew.

To win your free pass to the advance screening of “Sex Drive” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is be one of the first 40 people to submit a comment in this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup. That’s it!

The screening will be held on Oct. 8, 2008 at 7 p.m. near downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

“Sex Drive” features James Marsden, Seth Green, Clark Duke, Josh Zuckerman and Amanda Crew.
Image credit: Summit Entertainment

“Sex Drive” is about a high school senior who drives across the U.S. with his best friends to hook up with a babe he met online.

To secure your free tickets now, make sure you’re logged into your HollywoodChicago.com account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Having an account with a valid e-mail address is required.

Then, simply add a new comment in the form below. In your comment, include an answer to this simple question:

Have you ever met anyone from the Internet If so, how’d it go?

Like all Hookups here, this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film is simple: The first 40 people to comment below win! We will be in touch with the 40 winners to distribute your passes. “Sex Drive” opens nationwide on Oct. 17, 2008.

5:52 p.m. update on Sept. 29, 2008: Due to popular demand, we have received authorization from the film studio to increase this Hookup from 25 admit-two passes to 40 admit-two passes.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com