Review: Sex Tape

by Trevor Kirkendall

★

“Sex Tape.” You can probably already gather what this film will entail just based on the name. Perhaps I have a minor spoiler or two toward the end of this review. But let’s be honest: you already know how this film begins and ends and everything else in between just from watching the trailer. But my star rating says it all: “Sex Tape” is just bad.

The movie stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel as Annie and Jay, a couple of married sex addicts who aren’t too pleased with the way their life has gone since they aren’t able to engage in sexual congress as much as they would like. Their married lives have gotten in the way of their ability to fornicate whenever the mood strikes them. They both have jobs. Annie writes for a mommy-centric blog that’s about to be bought out by some kind of family company. It’s never fully explained what the company does. All we know is Rob Lowe runs the company. Jay works for a radio station I suppose (again, it’s never really fully explained). He gets a ton of free iPads and gives all his old ones out to friends, family, and the mailman with musical playlists he’s super proud about.

Annie bemoans on her blog about losing the spark of sex and wonders how to get it back. Well, it’s not a spark that’s been lost. It’s called being married with children and being busy. So right off the bat, they lost me. Are we to understand that this good-looking couple with careers and kids aren’t happy because they can’t find the time to fit in a little intercourse? The marriage doesn’t appear to be falling apart, they just want to have some fun like the used to before kids came along. Right up front, act one fails to convincingly draw the audience into their personal issues.

After Annie thinks she sold her blog to Rob Lowe’s company, she and Jay decide to celebrate. They drop the kids off with Annie’s mom (Nancy Lenehan) and get ready for a night of sexual adventures. Unfortunately, they’re out of practice so things don’t really go too well for them. They start drinking and decide they should tape themselves with the iPad. After three drunken hours of wild fun, Annie asks Jay to erase the video from the iPad. Jay doesn’t, and the video ends up getting synched up with all the other iPads he handed out to friends, family, and the mailman. A text from an unknown number congratulating them on the video has them very concerned about who else has the video. They set out on a nightlong adventure to retrieve the iPad’s from their friends before more people see it. They enlist the help of their friends Robby and Tess (Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper) to help them out, even though they really enjoyed the video.

A premise this simple and asinine makes for a very predictable film. I could tell you how it turns out, but you already know. And how is this film not funnier? You would think a movie starring Jason Segel about a missing sex tape filled with sex jokes would be funny. It’s not. The screenplay from Kate Angelo, Segel, and Nicholas Stoller is filled with every cliché in the screenwriting book (or perhaps, the how-not-to-write-a-screenplay book).

This seems to be a bit of a one-off for director Jake Kasdan. His work on previous films suck as “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” and “Bad Teacher” has not been exceptional, but merely acceptable. He completely misfires with “Sex Tape.” There’s an overall theme that his film tries to portray, but it’s never really tied together with the rest of the plotline. There’s that ‘ah-ha’ moment up toward the end with some nice dialogue that talks about what we all learned, but it doesn’t tie in with the set up we were given at the beginning.

The whole idea is that this couple needs to complete their adventure before being sexually attracted to one another again. But I never bought that idea. They are in love. They are attracted to each other. They just get wrapped up in this little thing known as life. Things that were once important to you aren’t as important as you grow older. So the film should be about growing up. Instead it’s about trying to find a certain spark again, which I don’t believe these characters ever lost.

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking I’m being too critical about a movie called “Sex Tape,” but I don’t think I’m out of line. Too often we find movies today that aren’t well developed. They’re rushed through story departments just because they have a high concept and an A-list star attached. And when you rush a script through like that, you end up missing some of the basic pillars of story structure. And apparently you lose out on good jokes too. How is this movie not funnier? Better jokes would have made this film at least a little tolerable. But at only 94 minutes in length, the pain and misery doesn’t last long.

Review: The Way Way Back

by Trevor Kirkendall
★★★½

There’s a comedian I like who tells a joke about sitting in the back seat of a station wagon on a family vacation. Not the back seat but the way, way back seat; the one that faces in reverse. He says that the kids sitting in the back seat of the car tend to have a completely different vacation than everyone else in the car. The comedian wonders, “I wonder what all these signs say?” I think that this particular seat in the old station wagons is what writers/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash had in mind when they wrote their brilliant new film “The Way Way Back”. Their main character starts the film sitting in this seat and throughout the rest of the film has completely different vacation than anyone else. This one shot should be enough foreshadowing of the continued brilliance that will follow.

“The Way Way Back” follows 14 year old Duncan (Liam James) during his summer vacation with his mom Pam (Toni Collette), her boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) and his daughter Stephanie (Zoe Levin). They’re spending a couple of months at Trent’s beach house. Next door lives the persistently intoxicated Betty (Allison Janney), who has no social filter, and her kids Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and Peter (River Alexander). We also meet Trent’s friends Kip (Rob Corddry) and Joan (Amanda Peet).

Duncan can’t stand Trent or any of his friends. He doesn’t understand what his mom sees in him. He begins to stay as far away from these people as possible, and begins taking long bike rides around the area. He discovers a nearby water park called Water Wizz and meets the park’s eccentric manager Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen likes Duncan and all his awkward quirks so he hires him to be a part time help around the park. At Water Wizz, he becomes well liked by the parks frequent visitors and the park’s employees including Caitlin (Maya Rudolph) along with Roddy and Lewis (film’s directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash).

Duncan’s attitude toward life in general begins to change as a result of his time with Owen working at Water Wizz. He even begins to attract the attention of the pretty girl living next door, Susanna. The two begin to form a friendship, something that might not have otherwise happened without his new life at the waterpark. He’s not even really afraid to share what’s on his mind with his mom and with Trent.

“The Way Way Back” is a brilliant display of what a coming-of-age movie should look like. The dynamic of every character in this film is written with such depth that you quickly lose yourself in the story. There are many moments where you could easily see yourself in Duncan’s shoes, even without the dysfunctional broken home element.

Oscar winning writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash make their directorial debut with this film, and they’ve hit a home run. They’ve proven their screenwriting expertise on Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” (which won them their Oscar) was no fluke. The amount of character development in their script vastly exceeds anything else we’ve seen this year. If this much characterization can be packed into such a short script, why can’t we get even a small portion of that in other films?

While the writing of “The Way Way Back” is fantastic, what really drives this film are the various performances from the whole cast. Liam James is on camera for the entire film, so its up to him to carry it. That’s no easy task for anyone, especially for someone his age. But James really takes command of his role. He should remind you of someone you knew when you were that age; if not a friend of yours, than maybe that quiet kid in the back of the class, or maybe even yourself.

The supporting roles, especially those of Toni Collette and Steve Carell, help to bring James’ character up to very a empathetic level. Collette is excellent as always. While she wants to look out for the best interests of her son, she’s also trying to find her happiness in this new life of hers. She’s torn and Collette really showcases it well. On the other hand, we’re used to seeing Carell in goofy and lightheaded rolls, but here he is downright mean. Every line and every glance toward James is that of sarcasm and disgust. He’s lovable in many films, but not here. Here, you have to hate him.

Sam Rockwell once again proves that he’s one of the most underrated and underappreciated actors working today. He turns in yet another unforgettable performance as Duncan’s best friend. He plays the role much like he’s done in the past; its a classic Rockwell performance. But he also brings out a little more depth that he hasn’t show in too many of his films (if you haven’t seen him in “Moon”, that’s one to find). In a film full of many bright spots, he shines the brightest.

“The Way Way Back” is a truly great film. Its a film with so much heart that’s delicately balanced between its scenes of emotion and its scenes of humor. There are so many memorable parts from the time it begins until the time it ends. The ending of the film may feel a little abrupt, but that’s the only thing I can find to complain about. In a summer full of movies that have underperformed expectations, “The Way Way Back” comes out of nowhere and surprises.