Four-time Golden Globe nominee Cameron Diaz is on quite a roll. “Sex Tape” is her seventh movie in a row that’s either a critical or financial bust, or both. In Jason Segel’s case, fresh-off the finale of the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, this is a low point in his big screen career which has included some solid work both writing and in front of the camera. “Sex Tape” is practically a complete failure and it has nothing to do with the actual premise of the movie.
You know going in that you’ll have to bite the bullet for the first 20 minutes or so for the predictable set-up. We meet Annie and Jay as college students (even though Diaz is 41 and Segel 34 – and look it) when their relationship is new and exciting. But once they get married things become stale, so they decide to star in their own sex tape. Nothing fresh or fun here. But that’s OK.
Their sexcapade is accidentally sent to family members and friends through Jay’s numerous tech devices. He and Annie now must find a way to get all the IPads back and erase the video. This is the point when “Sex Tape” is supposed to kick-in as a wild comedy. This is also when the real trouble begins.
At only 95 minutes, “Sex Tape” feels much longer. This is a reunion for Diaz and Segel, and they reunite with director Jake Kasdan, who all teamed-up for “Bad Teacher” in 2011. It’s time all three delete each other’s numbers from their cell phones. There is no chemistry between the actors, who both give awful individual performances. And Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper (“Bridesmaids”) simply go through the motions as the couple’s best friends.
Segel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller and Kate Angelo, put no care or effort into trying to make this film clever or funny on any level. Payoffs in most scenes are non-existent. The dialogue is completely flat and there’s no attention to detail or logic. At one point, in an effort to create a joke, a character claims that Steven Spielberg’s 2012 biopic “Lincoln” was 3 hours. With just a little research the writers could have learned that “Lincoln” was under 2:30. A small point, but a good example of just how poorly this film was made.
Also worth noting is an extended scene at the mansion of business owner Hank (Rob Lowe at his most annoying) which consists of cocaine use, a dog crashing into a wall and passing out, and portraits of Lowe’s head on the bodies of classic Disney animated characters. It’s as bizarre as it sounds. The “twist” midway through is a straight-up disaster.
There are other rude, crude and pointless situations simply thrown in an attempt to get laughs, including a few offensive references to kids with illnesses and people with disabilities. A surprise A-list cameo, who will regret it for the rest of his career, begins the over-sentimental final phase of “Sex Tape”, which is so shockingly bad it seems to have been tacked-on at the last minute. And this film is already a lock to win the Worst Editing of the Year award because I can’t imagine another movie over the next 5+ months that’s as choppy and sloppy.
“Sex Tape” is rated R for adult content, including nudity and language. It’s appropriate for older-teens and up. I do remember chuckling twice early on, but I can’t remember why. For the remaining 90%, I sat stone-faced, staring, often shaking my head in disbelief that someone would actually think that what was happening on screen could be classified as comedy. This is one of the worst movies of this or any other year.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Sex Tape” gets a D-.