Clark Duke, who co-created, co-writes, directs and edits the
CBS web series Clark And Michael alongside pal Michael Cera, must have experienced déjà vu
acting opposite Josh Zuckerman in the affably mediocre new teen sex comedy Sex
Drive. Zuckerman
has co-opted Cera's adorably awkward persona wholesale, particularly his
stumbling, apologetic way of making everything he says sound like a rambling
interior monologue that somehow slipped away from him and became banter.
Zuckerman isn't Sex Drive's only ersatz element; from its winking double entendre of
a title onward, it's awash in teen-sex comedy clichés. But at least it delivers
them with affection and a modicum of energy.
Zuckerman stars as a teen geek who decides to take an epic
road trip—a sex drive, as it were—to visit an Internet amour who's
promised to relieve him of his cursed virginity. Surely no offer made over the
Internet, especially of a sexual nature, could be anything less than 100
percent genuine, right? Along the way, Zuckerman and his companions, womanizer
buddy Duke and gorgeous best bud Amanda Crew, encounter hard-partying Amish,
flirtatious abstinence advocates, crazy rednecks, and a special performance by
Fall Out Boy that hurls the film into a time capsule. In other words, typical
road-trip hijinks.
Sex Drive offers a limp variation on a hoary old teen-film trope: the
oblivious dope who pines for a sexy fantasy girl while ignoring the attractive
soulmate right next to him. Sex Drive's modest pleasures come mainly from the periphery. Seth
Green steals the film as a dry-witted Amish mechanic who uses the contrast
between his old-timey looks and smartass, sarcastic personality to relentlessly
fuck with people's heads. Green is clearly having a ball, as is James Marsden
as Zuckerman's muscle-headed Neanderthal of an older brother. A film destined
for an undistinguished second life as a pay-cable plugger for decades to come, Sex
Drive benefits from
the low standards of the teen sex-comedy genre. But any film that features an
Amish Seth Green giving Pete Wentz shit for his online nude photos, and uses
"visiting grandma" as a euphemism for sex, can't be accused of wholly lacking
inspiration.