On the surface, Sex Drive looks like a run of the mill teen sex comedy, and it many ways it really is.  The plotting (stolen right from Eurotrip/Road Trip) is nothing special, and even some of the characters are based on other characters from other teen sex comedies ranging from American Pie (the horny and phony sidekick Finch who gets all the girls) to Weird Science, but Sex Drive has something so many other comedies are lacking these days, big laughs.  Sex Drive makes you laugh your ass off.  It’s vulgar (sometimes sickeningly so) but at its core there’s a heart to the film and even a small lesson on tolerance.  What separates Sex Drive from the Judd Apatow assembly line of comedies though is that it doesn’t push its message too forcefully or go too gooey and mushy. 

The plot involves an 18 year old named Ian (likable Josh Zuckerman) who decides to drive with his best friends cross-country to meet a hot babe he was chatting with online and dodge his macho, homophobic older brother Rex (James Marsden, as you’ve never seen him before) .  Along the way he meets up with a sarcastic Amish guy (Seth Green, very funny) out on “rumspringa” with his Amish buddies.  This part of the film is clearly inspired by the riveting documentary called The Devil’s Playground, and the fact that the celebration of rumspringa (basically Amish teens deciding whether or not to remain with the Amish way of life) is a part of real life makes it all the more funny.  The two best friends are Ian’s smarmy best buddy Lance (based on the Finch character from the American Pie films) and semi-goth hottie Felicia (gorgeous and game young actress Amanda Crew).  The cast of unknowns are all good and Seth Green lends support but its the warped work of formerly bland Cyclops actor James Marsden that puts the film out into home-run terriotory.

The 2 DVD set of Sex Drive has some nifty features and two cuts of the film on a flip disc.  The unrated (and much longer cut) and the original R-rated theatrical version.  A warning to viewers is given by the filmmakers (on a hilarious intro) to watch the R-rated version first, and they couldn’t be more right.  The unrated version is 20 minutes longer and tosses in a lot of unncessary bits that make the film run on far too long.  It’s a nice extra for fans of the film, but the theatrical cut is the version people will watch over and over again.  There’s no reason a film (even one as funny as Sex Drive) needs to run 2hrs and 9 minutes.  The extras are a lot of fun, especially the short featurette on James Marsden and a fun commentary with the director, writer, and producer.

Dumped by a moronic studio (nice job, dudes), Sex Drive deserved the same success that Judd Apatow’s recent string of comedies have been getting, instead it struggled to break even.  The cast is terrific, the vulgar laughs and bodily function jokes never flag for a second and there’s even some well-placed nudity (right on!).  It hits DVD on February 24th.  Sex Drive is easily the funniest comedies of the year, and one of the best overall films of 2008……and that’s no joke.

Sex Drive Theatrical Cut: A-

Unrated Cut: B

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