Ah, yes, the ‘coming of age’ teenagers on a road trip genre has become a staple in recent years. And normally I would be the last person on the planet to welcome another movie to a category of film populated by the likes of the American Pie franchise. But, actually, Sex Drive is a surprisingly funny, impressively written and executed movie.
Sex Drive follows the misadventures of Ian (Josh Zuckerman) as everyone around him (including his fourteen year old brother) appears to have better luck when it comes to love and life than he does. Frustrated with the lack of interest local girls express in such a ‘nice guy’ he adopts a more aloof persona online and is lured across the country to a woman by the screen name of ‘Ms. Tasty.’ Ms. Tasty appears to be the only person inclined to help Ian lose his ‘virgin’ status and with the insistence of his friend Lance (Clark Duke) they steal Ian’s brother’s car and go off in search of Ian’s destiny.
There is a fairly predictable love triangle to be had here. But what sets the film apart is two-fold. Firstly, the very quirky and refreshing performances provided by Ian, Lance and Ian’s ‘best friend’ Felicia (Amanda Crew). Secondly it is the great humour inherent in the script. It is superbly written. Having Seth Green play an Amish man with a penchant for sarcasm and a talent for repairing cars was truly inspired. While it does verge off into the kind of juvenile American Pie territory (and there are enough gay jokes in this movie to comfort now unemployed Focus on The Family staff), the narrative doesn’t get bogged down in amongst its own gags.
One of the most interesting films is the correlation between youth culture and internet culture. It becomes a reoccurring gag that any embarrassing occurrence may be recorded and live forever online. Certainly there is great truth to this idea. But there is also a great truth expressed here about the mixed messages that are sent around the subject of sex itself. Provocative dancers are used to lure unsuspecting boys to a talk on abstinence. Felicia assures Ian that girls really want ‘nice guys’ despite having no interest in him and more interest in Lance who, as one character put it, has ‘no respect for bitches.’ Sometimes the gulf between what we want and what we think we want is considerable, as demonstrated by this film.
I was also very excited to see Natalia Reagan (who I was recently in a YouTube video with) make an appearance in this film. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anyone on the big screen that I have (kinda, sorta) known before. It was very thrilling.
Finally, if you do go and see this movie, hang around and watch the credits for a very amusing sequence between Fall Out Boy (who play in the movie) and Seth Green. Incidentally both Seth Green and the actress behind ‘Ms. Tasty’ (Katrina Bowden) have appeared in Fall Out Boy music videos.
Oh… did I mention for the most part Ian wears a donut suit?
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I did enjoy American Pie. Okay so it was over the to but it was funny. This movie sounds cute too.