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Film Review: 'Sex Tape'

Tanya Mardirossian |
July 19, 2014 | 3:17 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

The cast of "Sex Tape" (Twitter @SexTapeMovie)
The cast of "Sex Tape" (Twitter @SexTapeMovie)
Don’t be intimidated by the title of the movie “Sex Tape”. The film offers romance and aspects of married life couples can relate to. But as the film is rated R, don’t bring the kids along. 

Annie (Cameron Diaz) is married to Jay (Jason Segel) and has a mommy blog. The couple met in college and had a fun/wild relationship until married life with kids slowed things down. On a night alone, the couple decide to spice things up with a sex tape. After Annie and Jay agree to delete the video, it leaks to the couple’s friends and family on i-Pads Jay gave away as gifts. Soon after, it doesn’t take long for them to realize the damage and go on a scavenger hunt to retrieve the i-Pads, one of which was given to Annie’s boss (Rob Lowe). 

READ MORE: Film Review: 'Boyhood'

The film ends similar to "The Hangover" with Annie and Jay watching parts of their sex tape. And with the hunt to make sure it's deleted, it feels like watching a different version of "The Hangover." After all, the characters did decide to film it while being drunk. 

Certain elements of the film were realistic and true, like parents bouncing babies to keep them quiet, making the audience laugh at how ridiculous it looks. The script, written by Kate Angelo was comedic with dialogue that made Segel and Diaz seem like they had a close onscreen/offscreen relationship. 

The characters seem like they are smart and family oriented until the craziness of the plot unravels—dragging friends into their scavenger hunt, doing drugs, and taking their kids along on the ride, but of course, it adds to the comedy. 

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The major relatable component of the film is understanding technology. The video saves on The Cloud allowing it to sync on all i-Pads Jay gave out. 

Some things to keep an eye out for, but aren’t hard to miss are Disney paintings throughout boss Hank’s house, with Rob Lowe’s face as some of the characters featured in the paintings (too bad the Disney movies didn’t have Rob Lowe’s face on the characters). Other characters played by well-known actors are Jack Black, Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper. 

We’ve seen Jason Segel play romantic comedies before, like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “The Five Year Engagement”, so “Sex Tape” brings the crazy and fun comedy to the screen as executive producer and as a contributing screenwriter. 

Reach Staff Member Tanya Mardirossian here. Follow her on Twitter



 

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