Movie Review: Sex Drive (2008)

What do you get when you cross a ’69 GTO Judge, three teenage best friends, and a weekend without parents? You get Sex Drive, a comedy about the most epic quest a man can undertake — the one to lose his virginity. The film follows Ian (Josh Zuckerman), a nervous virgin who’s propositioned by a girl he’s been talking to on the internet. When his overly masculine brother Rex (James Marsden) and family go away for the weekend, Ian’s playboy friend Lance (Clark Duke), convinces Ian to take his brother’s aforementioned GTO Judge and drive to meet her. On their way out, their third musketeer, a friend named Felicia (Amanda Crew) joins them, and Lance and Ian must lie to her about their cross country road trip intentions.

The movie’s characters and themes follow the standard teen movie archetypes, but what really make it stand out is the overall plot and absurd situations those characters find themselves in. On their trip from Chicago, Illinois to Knoxville, Tennessee, they run into a barrage of strange situations and people, including, but not limited to, a broken car, angry hillbillies, abstinence, and a very strange group of Amish people (well, stranger than usual). In the end, Sex Drive turns into a culmination of these situations, including Ian’s brother showing up in search of his missing car.

As I said before, the characters are nothing particularly new, but the lines they deliver combine clever and sometimes vulgar — in a way that Kevin Smith would tip his hat to. The three leads play their parts extremely well and they all have a specific arc and change. Seth Green and James Marsden steal the scenes they’re in. One of the most important things about this movie is that it sets up these characters in a way that you care about them. You wish to see their growth and development in the final resolution of the film. You want that poor kid to get laid , see a profound lesson in the whole trip or just let the whole thing bite him in the ass. Whatever you choose, the film gives plenty of empathy and moments for you to identify with the main characters.

Overall Sex Drive was well made and had me close to tears in a few places. While the film won’t appeal to broad audiences, I think that it’s definitely a good relief from the usual fare put forth by the Apatow, McKay, Ferrell crew. This movie manages to combine absurdity with maturity for a coming of age comedy that should remind everyone of the crazy ideas they had when they were younger.