Film Review: Sex Tape

Sex Tape. Rated MA15+ (strong sex scenes, sexual references, coarse language and drug use). 94 minutes. Directed by Jake Kasdan. Screenplay by Kate Angelo, Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller.

Verdict: Apple® product placement reaches a new high.

Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel and Jake Kasdan first worked together on Bad Teacher (2011), the story of Diaz’s ‘bad’ teacher Elizabeth, who quits her job to marry her rich boyfriend, only to find herself back in the classroom again after he dumps her. Her mission to find another wealthy man to marry was one of the most unexpectedly enjoyable films of the season. Even though it has its moments, this outing for the trio is considerably less successful.

When parents Annie (Diaz) and Jay (Segel) try to rekindle their previously passionate sex life by making a sex tape, copies of the resulting video end up being shared amongst their friends on second-hand iPads that Jay gives them as gifts. When Annie’s future employer Hank (Rob Lowe) receives one of the iPads, Annie and Jay decide to go to whatever lengths are necessary to retrieve it before he has the chance to watch it.

Lowe is an odd choice for the role of Annie’s future boss, mostly because it is impossible to ignore the fact that he had his own infamous moment in the ‘sex tape’ sun way back 1989. Lowe has become a fine actor over the years, and his performance as the peculiar Hank is well below the standard he has set for himself in West Wing and Brothers and Sisters.

When it is not resembling an over-produced commercial for every Apple® product under the sun (Jay owns a ridiculous number of the company’s devices), the screenplay struggles to last the distance. While there are certainly some big laughs to be had (the scenes involving Jay and Hank’s German Shepherd guard dog are ridiculously over the top), it ultimately feels as though everyone is trying just that little bit too hard to get it over the line.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.