Sex Tape

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, Rob Lowe, Nat Faxon, Nancy Lenehan
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A married couple (Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz) make a private sex tape and are horrified when it leaks to their friends and acquaintances. They begin a frantic search to retrieve the various copies.

Review:

Tim: Comedy is hard. I don't think we give comedians enough credit, because it's extremely difficult to pull off a good comedy. You have to toe the line between being ridiculous enough to be funny, but not being so ridiculous that the movie doesn't work. This line is apparently razor thin, because so many people fail to find the right balance. I really like Jason Segel and I wish he made better comedies. Sex Tape has a lot of promise, but ultimately, it can't find the right balance. As it descends into absurdity, the quality drops. This movie has flashes of brilliance, but ultimately, it's another average comedy.

One of the central issues that might not seem like a big deal (but it is), is the explanation of how the sex tape manages to get out. The basic idea is that Segel's character gives away iPads filled with music. He gives people free iPads. Now, I get giving family members or really close friends free iPads, but would you really give the mailman an old iPad? Or your wealthy boss? Seriously? This central idea is so absurd and so disconnected from any kind of reality that it really, really hurt the whole movie. It was just so unbelievable and so silly that I had a hard time believing anything else the movie asked me to believe. They really needed to figure out a better way to make the story work.

I suppose the story itself was fairly timely, especially with the recent nude celeb photo hack. I like when movies are able to pull in contemporary challenges to the story. The idea of technology and privacy and how we manage our privacy (or not) is a real challenge facing people in 2014. I enjoyed that aspect of the film. This movie would have looked very different if it was made in the 80s (their VHS tape gets lost?). That part was pretty fun.

The cast was fairly likeable. Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz have history working together, so they had at least some chemistry on screen. I'm shocked by how much weight Segel lost for this role. They seemed at least somewhat believable as a married couple. Their interactions were pretty fun together. I am a big Segel fan (he's a super nice guy in real life, too) and I thought he gave a good comedic performance here. He's likeable in a goofy way. Diaz was fairly good, too. She'll never be considered a great actress, but she has good comedic timing and worked well. Rob Corddry is fine in supporting roles, and had a few funny moments here. I like Ellie Kemper and appreciated her small supporting role. She's a funny lady. Rob Lowe was a nice addition to the cast. He's had a career resurgence as of late and is underrated. The rest of the supporting cast was decent.

While Sex Tape has some hilarious moments- there were definitely times when I was loudly laughing at what I saw on screen- as a whole, the movie just wasn't funny enough. There were too many moments that elicited eye-rolls and groans, rather than laughs. That being said, I've seen a lot of comedies that didn't make me laugh at all. That is not the case here- there's definitely some really funny moments sprinkled throughout. I just wish the movie was more consistently funny.

As a whole, Sex Tape is a decent comedy. As I said, doing comedy well is very, very hard. I can't consider this a good movie because of its inconsistencies and a few absurd logic gaps that really frustrated me. However, it wasn't wholly bad. This is a decent comedy and if you've got some free time, you could certainly do worse than this film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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