Sex Tape
(2014)
(SPOILERS) As Michael Mann recently discovered with Blackhat, tapping into the zeitgeist is
no guarantee of success. Even if Sex Tape
had been released in conjunction with Jennifer Lawrence’s Cloud-snatched nudie
pics, it’s highly unlikely it would have mustered any more interest than it
received last summer. It doesn’t help that the movie is crummy, of course. Yet
that hasn’t prevented any countless of clueless comedies from reigning supreme
at the US box office (Neighbors, for
example). It also didn’t stop the picture doing reasonable business
internationally.
One might hope even great unwashed viewers know desperation
when they smell it. An in-your-face title like Sex Tape is begging to be shunned. Perhaps the lure of seeing
Cameron Diaz’s arse held sway. It might not be as momentous as it was in its
prime, but Diaz is holding up well. She has retained a quality of Goldie Hawn goofiness
into her fifth decade, just as Hawn did. She’s very nearly the only saving
grace of this tiresome affair.
Very nearly, because, for a brief section, this tale of a
couple who make the titular “tape” on an iPad in a bid to rekindle their
dwindling marital mojo threatens to actually be, you know, funny. It’s probably
not coincidental that this passage of the picture has precious little to do
with said home movie, other than it where a potential viewer of their
indiscreet escapade lives. They visit the home of Diaz’ prospective boss (hubby
Jason Segel’s a radio DJ, she’s a professional blogger; tat’s the
only-in-Hollywood level of the movie), who is played by none other than Rob
Lowe. He of the infamous ‘80s sex tape the vast majority of viewers will either
know nothing of or have long since forgotten (so not a great in-joke, then).
Lowe’s been honing his comic chops of late, particularly
with his insanely OTT turn in Californication.
He’s good here too, but the main chuckles come from Diaz doing coke (Lowe: Where is your husband, Diaz: I don’t know. Where is that fucker?) and
hubby Jason Segel fending off a German Shepherd through extreme violence. Yes,
it’s the comedy of excess so beloved of Segel patron Judd Apatow, but for a few
minutes the picture musters some smiles.
Jake Kasdan, son of Lawrence, is trying to replicate the
success of his earlier Diaz hit Bad
Teacher. But that movie’s title spoke to its content in a good way. There
was much potential there. Here, it’s a case of “So they make the video. What
happens next?” 90-minute comedies should be embraced for cutting the fat, but
only if they’re half decent. Kasdan’s writers (Kate Angelo of The Back-Up Plan, Segel and Stoller,
who, with Gulliver’s Travels and Muppets Most Wanted are going all out
for supreme stinkers lately) have no idea what they’re doing or where they’re
going with the plot, which is why the interlude with the coke and the dog
occurs.
Then they have Rob Corddry’s kid (Corddry seems to be in everything at the
moment; I’m not quite sure why) blackmail Segel, having run out of steam with
the “hunt the iPads” thread. It isn’t remotely convincing, as developments go, And then they are manoeuvred into visiting
Jack Black’s pornlord. Who offers them sincere marital advice. It’s that bad.
The weirdest thing is, this is a Sony movie that’s one long
advert for Apple. From its amazinfg camera quality to its durability (“Man, the construction of these things is
just unbelievable”), this is clearly a device no one can do without, even a
rival electronics company.
The only well-observed moment in the movie comes very early, when
Segel’s daughter asks why they keep having all these days, then going to bed at
night, then repeating it over and over again. And on and on. Pointless, continuous,
like Hollywood comedies. Moments later we learn she has put her finger in her
butt. Which is Kasdan and Segel’s preferred level. Sex Tape’s marginal merit is that it its superior to Zach and Miri Make a Porno, with boorish
oaf Seth Rogen. Segel looks awful, by the way. Like he’s about to peg out. Diaz
dazzles in roller-skates and is in Hawn’s position of convincingly co-starring
with a guy nearly a decade her junior. As with Hawn, though, she needs to
martial her career more wisely.
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