Sex Tape

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.

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.

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.

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 headlined a shoddy comedy that opened earlier in 2014, "The Other Woman", but instead of improving from the mistake of choosing that script to further her career, Diaz outdoes her poor script selection with "Sex Tape". The adjective "atrocious" was used in numerous film reviews in describing "Sex Tape". Atrocious is such a jarring word, it sounds like it could tear skin if used too aggressively. The term should only be used selectively, but the quality of the screenplay used to produce "Sex Tape" creates justifiable cause to snort that word every second of the feeble film.

In "Sex Tape", Diaz and Jason Segal's characters, Jay and Annie, create their three-hour sex video using an iPad. Their captured copulation becomes a "must-see" by anyone in the film with knowledge of the recording. Maybe that's what Director Jake Kasdan hoped would be the reaction to his newly released comedy, but the final result does not warrant a compulsive urge to see it, nor does it scream box-office sellout. Once they absorb the first ten minutes, audiences will react with a desire to run away from the theater instead of a continued persistence to watch it. The talent of Diaz and Segal is squandered into superficial characters and a defective plot line. Diaz declares her agenda as an actress with "Sex Tape". As mentioned earlier, she starred in another horrid effort this year, "The Other Woman", and what both movies have common are crude, oversimplified stories that can be accessed by just about anyone in the target audience demographic. Pursuing challenging roles like she did in "Being John Malkovich", "Something About Mary", and "Vanilla Sky" has seemed to have vanished from Diaz's current plans. Instead, she seems focused on being a top-rated actress at the box-office. If I'm completely incorrect and these scripts are the best she is offered, then her time is done and she should surrender.

For the material she uses, Diaz does fine in her role. I actually have no squabbles about anything she contributes as an actress to "Sex Tape". Too bad no other film element is aiding her like a script, a well-written character, a competent director or a co-star in Jason Segal, whose discouraging performance is barely worth mentioning. Segal's reputation reminds us he's reliable, but his work here suggests a professional decline. He is dormant most of the film. One of his character's "exclamatory" lines includes an "I'm so excited right now," but he says it so lethargically that I was not sure if his character was being sincere or sarcastic.

"Sex Tape" lacks the nerve to carry out the implications of its risqué title and premise. The film slaps its cards on the table in the first 30 minutes, then fritters an hour of your life away on plot developments that travel to insane levels past the original concept and fruitless dialogue that talks in circles. "Sex Tape" has all the talk and hype, but the final product is shallow and slightly perverted.

The lesson that can be imparted from "Sex Tape" is that some trailers do not lie. If it has a name that screams "RAZZIE!" and hokey previews, then it's probably going to expel respect out of the reputation of the once acclaimed Diaz and the always-promising Segal. Those who wisely avoided the trailers are in the safe zone, but everyone else who takes pleasure in seeing Diaz's eternal charm sparkle the screen and hoped that maybe "Sex Tape" would be something irreverently fun like "Bad Teacher" will be proved wrong.

½ / * * * *