Swanner: I’ve been asking for some original material all summer that’s going to be so exciting that I makes this lukewarm summer sizzle…Sex Tape is not that movie. Sex Tape fails in so many different ways, I don’t know where to start. I mean, you have Cameron Diaz and Jason Segal in an R rated sexy comedy, right! Both have done very successful sexy comedies before but even though the two are naked a lot, it never felt sexy. This felt more like a one joke movie that ultimately became a no joke movie.
Judd: Written by Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller and Kate Angelo, directed by Jake Kasdan, who also directed Bad Teacher and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, you would think this team could produce something a little raunchier than what is essentially a family movie. After parents Jake and Annie try to rekindle their sex life with a sex tape, the video gets sent to iPads all over Los Angeles in the most contrived and implausible way ever. The rest of the movie is spent with Jake and Annie trying to recover the tablets.
Swanner: I know Brian won’t remember this but when Segel and Diaz were in Bad Teacher together they had much more chemistry and were far sexier than in this film. I know they were playing a couple who let their lives go when the kids started to show up (another storyline we’ve seen quite a bit) but if all they had before was just really good sexy then that says much more about their relationship then just making the video. When Diaz started bitching about him attending clubs to hear perspective music clients it sounded an awful lot like This Is 40 when Leslie Mann said the same thing to Paul Rudd which was written by Judd Apatow about a couple bored with their lives.
Judd: Segel and Diaz were in Bad Teacher together? You’re right, I don’t remember that! The problem is that between the title and the marketing we’re lead to believe this is going to be a sex comedy, what we’re given is a movie that’s about as sexless as Jake and Annie’s marriage. The worst offence the movie made was including the children in the last-ditch effort Jake and Annie make to recover the video off a web server. I was expecting the Tanners to show up at any moment with Michelle in tow, “You got it, dude!”
Swanner: Is that a Full House reference? Never saw the show and if it’s anything like this…good. I really wanted this to be good because I do like both actors. I was surprised Diaz was only 42, I was sure she was closer to 50 and Segal being only 34 means he needs to get that moisturizing started now. The film has a few funny parts but not enough to call it a comedy. I’m blaming the script on this mess because I’ve seen everyone else do better work. Enough with the bored couple storylines, If you don’t want to give up your old lives…stop having children.
Judd: It also needs to be mentioned that the camerawork was extra horrible. The camera would tilt for no good reason, like screw that held the camera level was loose. There was one scene where the camera was so wobbly, it was actually distracting. I found myself watching the walls and ceiling slowly go out of parallel with edges of the frame. If this were a low-budget indie film, it would be excusable, but instead is was further evidence of how sloppy and shoddy this movie really is.
Swanner: ½ star
Judd: No stars