Sex Tape

Well a lot of vitriol has been spewed on this site about this movie. Particularly with comedies, filmmakers never know what will tickle the fancy of the movie-going public. They have to throw a lot of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. The script for, say, "Caddyshack" had to have looked so sophomoric that the suits must have thought themselves crazy to green-light that project, but it made a fortune and is now considered a classic comedy. This film was filled with crude humor and an okay premise, but it turned out okay. I found it mildly amusing, and the beautiful Cameron Diaz held my interest. I've certainly seen a lot worse.

Really, it's not that bad. I have no idea why people are raving about how bad it was. It's like all the other popular comedies out there. It's not meant to be profound. Yes, some of the things meant to make me laugh didn't, but others did. For example, I don't find the scenes with the dog funny, but I love the raunchiness and the premise. Fear the cloud!

Also, nice to see a naked DUDE for a change instead of just female nudity!!!!!

Why do I need 10 lines? This is silly... why say more than necessary. I think being concise is more appreciated.

Okay, in case you haven't already heard, 'Sex Tape' has been pretty much slated everywhere. Currently it's up for goodness knows how many 'Razzie' awards for how bad it is. And, if you check out the online reviews, you'll see that most people pretty much agreed with its nominations.

So, I sat down to watch it, confident in the knowledge that I'd probably be turning it off at about the half hour mark. I actually sat through it all the way.

Yes, it's not that good. If you're looking for a laugh-a-minute comedy then you won't find it here. Also, if you're looking for some sort of touching, heart-felt comedy, you won't find that here, either. However, if you're generally okay with comedy which is totally based around sex and don't have your expectations too high, then it's not as bad as some people are making it out to be.

I read that much of the hate towards this film centres around the on-screen chemistry between Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. I can see where this is coming from. Most of the time the pair of them play off each other pretty well, but there were certainly a few scenes where their relationship felt very awkward, forced and even scripted. Diaz handles it better than Segel and she's definitely doing her best to keep the film going.

Before you watch this film, stop for a moment to ponder its title. Sex Tape. Does that really conjure up images of high-brow drama and sophistication? Hopefully not. It's pretty much telling you what to expect on the label. I think the trick to getting something out of this is to suitably lower your expectations and accept it for what it is – a pretty run-of-the-mill comedy which has its moments, but, ultimately, you probably won't remember for too long. Don't hate it based on what you've heard, just make sure you're in the mood for what it is before you contemplate sitting down for an hour and a half to watch it.

Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel play married couple Annie and Jay, who are dismayed to realise that leading a hectic family life has had a seriously negative impact on their physical relationship. When they find themselves with an evening free from the kids, the couple decide to try and revitalise their love-life by filming themselves performing EVERY position from 70s manual The Joy of Sex. The proverbial hits the fan, however, when the couple realise in horror that their current iPad has synced their home-made porn with all of the other tablets they have previously owned-tablets that they have given away as gifts to various friends and associates.

For most of its running time, Sex Tape smacks of desperation, chucking in as much unsophisticated sexual humour as the R rating will allow, but rarely getting the expected laughs; when Jack Black and Rob Lowe provide a film's funniest moments, then Houston, we have a problem. Of course, for many men, the biggest lure will undoubtedly be the sight of Diaz in the altogether, and at 42, she still has a very commendable body; unfortunately, facially speaking, she has started to resemble Jack Nicholson in Batman, which is just a bit off-putting-although not nearly as off-putting as Segel's hairy ass, which gets far too much screen time for my liking. Let's just say that the sight of Diaz and Segel rutting really ain't all that sexy.

The film also suffers from a typically maudlin Hollywood finale in which our adventurous couple's ordeal helps them to remember just why they fell in love in the first place. Gack!

When they were just dating, Jay and Annie had the best sex anywhere and anytime. Since they got married and had kids though, their sexual activity dipped to below zero. One frustrating night when their attempts for sex were going nowhere, Annie hits on the idea to take a video of themselves having sex to make things more exciting. Aroused by the camera, they had a three-hour sex marathon following all the positions prescribed in the book "The Joy of Sex".

In the morning, Annie reminds Jay to delete the video. However, Jay inadvertently uploads the video onto the cloud and an app automatically shared it with people to whom they had given their old iPads to, including their kids, parents, friends, and even the mailman. Jay and Annie scramble to get all of these iPads back and off the internet.

All of that I had written in the synopsis you can also get from watching the trailer. All the funny parts are already there in that short clip. When you watch the whole film, there was nothing else worth watching anymore. In fact, the trailer was even edited better than the film itself, making it more hilarious than the film itself.

After the initial funny premise had already been laid down, the rest of the film was nothing more than prolonging the agony and beating an already dead horse. That whole sequence in the house of Rob Lowe's character (as the CEO of the company interested in buying Annie's mommy blog) was unbearably unfunny.

Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz are funny actors, but these are already very familiar roles for them and they seem to just be sleepwalking through them. Segel, in particular seems to be stereotyped already in this type of role of a lovelorn loser. Diaz is a favorite actress of mine, and I am able to find something positive in even her reviled films, like "Bad Teacher" (which also starred Segel). There is still her great-looking body to like here, but unfortunately, not much else.