Sex Drive (2008)
Directed by Sean Anders
A high school senior drives cross-country with his best friends to hook up with a babe he met online.
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15 films that influenced Sex Drive
What critics say influenced Sex Drive
Sex Drive has a plot that's similar to the one in The Sure Thing .
"Sex Drive," which follows the same road as Rob Reiner's far superior "The Sure Thing," is brought low by too much emphasis on crude humor.
It steals so shamelessly, from The Sure Thing to American Pie and everything in between, that at times it's almost like watching a teensploitation genre highlights reel.
Yes, “Sex Drive” uncomfortably mirrors the 1985 Rob Reiner film “The Sure Thing.”
But it's one of the best I have seen in a long time - perhaps since Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing (with which it shares a few traits).
The movie's first half-hour, in particular, spends an unseemly amount of time ripping off American Pie -- parents walking in on that, characters slipping and falling on this -- with a devotion that would seem more at home in an eleventh grade screenwriting class.
A thoroughly clichéd virginity-deadline teen comedy with none of American Pie's trangsressiveness (it's hard, these days) and little of Superbad's intelligence, it nonetheless manages enough moments of inspiration to be passable, and has some performances with enough charm to make it likable -- or at least not detestable.
Yet even though the film is clearly B level - it's an amalgamation of other teen comedies, with pieces of newer movies like "American Pie" and "Superbad" sprinkled on top of the age-old romantic farce formula - it's a sunny story.
The horndogs from Porky’s to American Pie to Harold and Kumar are nearly identical - they want to get laid and have a good time.
Certainly, there would have never been an "Animal House" or a "Porky's" or an "American Pie."
From this point, the American Pie resemblances must make room for an episodic, cartoony sketchiness owing a debt to Road Trip , Harold and Kumar , and Superbad , prudently covering almost the entire spectrum of modern sex comedies (and avoiding, then, the out-and-out eighties-style exploitation).
A thoroughly clichéd virginity-deadline teen comedy with none of American Pie's trangsressiveness (it's hard, these days) and little of Superbad's intelligence, it nonetheless manages enough moments of inspiration to be passable, and has some performances with enough charm to make it likable -- or at least not detestable.
A testosterone-fueled road movie that displays the same Apatow-ian obsessions, and raunch, as Pineapple Express, Superbad, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, this adolescent comedy tracks an 18-year-old virgin - nerdboy Ian (Josh Zuckerman) - who drives his brother's Pontiac GTO from Chicago to Knoxville, Tenn., for an assignation with "Ms.
It’s not just that Sex Drive picks the bones of sweeter, funnier teen movies like Say Anything… and Superbad for its soulless purposes; it’s that it shares with Juno , perhaps the most recent teen trendsetter, a callous and egotistical lack of interest in anyone outside its demographic.
Yet even though the film is clearly B level - it's an amalgamation of other teen comedies, with pieces of newer movies like "American Pie" and "Superbad" sprinkled on top of the age-old romantic farce formula - it's a sunny story.
What separates Superbad from National Lampoon's Dorm Daze?
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.
Clark Duke basically steals the show on many occasions, but Marsden destroys his pretty boy humility with this spastic machismo fueled bully a la Bill Paxton in “Weird Science” who proves to be a constant obstacle in character Ian’s journey for self-discovery and coming of age.
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None of which makes those movies inherently bad, mind you; The Girl Next Door was terrific, and it was almost a carbon copy of Risky Business.
John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" is to this movie's writer-director Sean Anders what John Woo movies are to Quentin Tarantino.
Josh Zuckerman (2004's " Surviving Christmas ") is an inviting, adorable presence as Ian, a young man who isn't keen on his virginal status but comes to realize he would rather share the experience with someone he genuinely cares for.
Amanda Crew, the "annoying little sister" in "Final Destination 3," is amazingly daring as Ian's childhood friend Felicia, enduring all sorts of crazy things to get laughs, including getting hit in the face with a giant lollipop and peeing in a radiator.
As the feisty Felicia, Amanda Crew (2006's " Final Destination 3 ") has star charisma to spare and a winning personality that would make anyone fall for her.
Ian (Josh Zuckerman, "Austin Powers in Goldmember," "Feast") is an 18 year-old-virgin with an unrequited crush on his best friend Felicia (Amanda Crew, "Final Destination 3").
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To put it in the context of ’80s movies, if Superbad is built to last like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sex Drive will fade into obscurity like My Tutor.
Certainly, there would have never been an "Animal House" or a "Porky's" or an "American Pie."