Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel team up for Sex Tape, an R-rated comedy that tries to balance raunchy humor with the wholesomeness of a family film and ends up failing both genres. The trailer gives over-explains the entire premise, but here it is again: Diaz and Segel play Annie and Jason, a loving couple that started hot and heavy in college, but have since seen their libido take a nosedive thanks to things like stupid work or their stupid kids.
Eager to rekindle their relationship, Annie comes up with the idea of making a sex tape with Jay. After three hours, multiple positions and some kitchen items, the couple finish, their relationship magically cured and they go back to normal. As it turns out, Jay forgot to delete the video and now, thanks to a nefarious syncing app on his iPad, an unknown number of people now have access to the tape of him and his wife getting down with some salami.
What follows is a mad dash all over town as Jay and Annie frantically try to find their rogue iPads and delete any copies of their tape before the shock of two consenting movie stars having sex shake the country to its very foundations, or Annie’s potential boss sees it and she doesn’t get a promotion or something. There are moments in Sex Tape that are wild and unhinged, but they are few and far between. 
The movie’s highlight comes in the form of an impromptu coke party at Annie’s boss’ (played by Rob Lowe) home. Annie ends up doing rails with Hank while Jay has a one-man war with a German Shepard – a scene that is again, spoiled by the trailer. Beyond that, the movie is a pretty tepid pile of cliches and predictable outcomes without anything that really makes it stand apart.
This is especially disappointing because Segel and his writing partner Nick Stoller co-wrote the script, and have been behind some other, markedly better comedies. Likewise, Jake Kasdan has directed better comedies, so it’s not a matter of talent or the lack of a skilled director to take advantage of it. Ultimately, the film ends up splitting the difference between a raunchy sex comedy and a family film where a couple rediscover each other through the power of fucking on an iPad. The result is toothless and sloppy, and not in a good way.
Comments on this entry are closed.