What’s the big deal about virginity in comedy films? American Pie, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Can’t Hardly Wait, the list goes on. And surely the slew of films which have this as the main subject can’t be doing any good for the neurotic few out there who are actually worried about it.
Watch enough of these films as an impressionable youth and you could develop a complex and never leave the house. Sex Drive is the next in a long line of films which play on the neuroses of teenagers everywhere but while the plot is predictable, the laughs come thick and fast.
Ian (Josh Zuckerman – who, at 24, is surely far too old to be playing this kind of role anymore), is unwillingly celibate. This isn’t helped by his job in the mall - dressing up as an over-sized sombrero-clad donut to hand out flyers in the mall – strangely no one seems keen to get busy with a walking bakery section.
Thinking he’ll score with a girl he’s met on the internet, he steals his brother’s prized GTO Judge and embarks on a road trip to meet her with his friends: bespectacled, pudgy yet supremely successful Casanova best friend Lance (Clark Duke) and Felicia (the beautiful Amanda Crew), a girl he’s had a crush on forever. See if you can guess where this is going.
Despite the lack of originality of its premise (while it’s being billed as Superbad on wheels, it’s much more like a cross between American Pie and The Sure Thing), and the dreadful title, Sex Drive actually manages to be surprisingly funny and defies admittedly low expectations to be an extremely likable teen sex comedy.
And while some of the familiar old jokes are present (gross out comedy, puerile one-liners), they’re delivered with a freshness which doesn’t make them seem tired. James Marsden (filling in for Seann William Scott it seems) in brazen jock mode is a lot of fun to watch, as are Clark Duke’s wryly-delivered put downs. However, it’s Seth Green who easily steals the show as a sarcastic Amish mechanic in a startlingly funny bit-part.
It’s by no means rocket science, but it somehow manages to more than pull its weight in the genre. The plot may be derivative, but the cast makes it work and even though you know in the first 10 minutes how the film will end, it’s still an extremely entertaining ride and well worth catching if you get the chance.
Sex Drive (15) is out now.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here