25. Sex Drive

Story
Yet another in a LONG line of teenage sex comedies, this one manages somehow to be fresh and appealing -- despite the formu-lay-ic premise. That’s right, another horny 18 year-old boy (Josh Zuckerman) is determined to lose his virginity any way he can. Ian can’t seem to become a "man," upstaged by a Lothario of an older brother Rex (James Marsden) and his even more successful 14 year-old younger brother. He is constantly humiliated by the giant donut costume he wears for his job at the mall and can’t even get to first base with Felicia (Amanda Crew), a girl who thinks of him only as her best friend and nothing more. With the pressure of going to college as a sexual outcast, what’s a hot-to-trot young dude to do? In this case -- using encouragement from pal Lance (Clark Duke) and with Felicia along for the ride -- the threesome take off in the unsuspecting Rex’s prized Pontiac GTO for a cross-country drive Ian thinks will end with the payoff of sex with a hot blonde named Ms. Tasty (Katrina Bowden) he met on the Internet. Unfortunately, the one-day outing turns into a three-day nightmare for the trio, with brother Rex on their trail and friend Lance getting a little too cocksure for his own good. Oh, and did we forget to mention the Amish farm they manage to work into the tour?
Acting
In the obligatory Jason Biggs role, Josh Zuckerman is totally winning as a sex-starved high school graduate looking desperately to tame his out-of-control libido. With sharp comic timing and no end to the ways he is willing to humiliate himself for the sake of his art, Zuckerman should have a bright future. Although the casting of his friend Lance, played by the pudgy Duke, would seem to be an attempt to emulate the Michael Cera/Jonah Hill teaming of Superbad, Duke’s go-for-the-big laughs approach feels like we are seeing this kind of goosed-up sex maniac act for the first time. As the female "best friend" Felicia, Amanda Crew is very appealing and thankfully grounded in reality. Marsden is hilarious as dopey Rex, who prizes his vintage GTO and his own sexual prowess even more than the love of little bro. Seth Green has some funny bits as the sarcastic Amish man who somehow seems to know how to fix hot rods. Bowden is gorgeous and devious as the Internet hottie, who may not be all Ian hoped for. Special mention also to Charlie McDermott and Mark Young who as a recurring kind of geek chorus, playing two inept high school girl magnets. NOT.
Direction
Director and co-screenwriter (with John Morris) Sean Anders manages to infuse what could have been a stale leftover piece of American Pie with new life, and that’s largely thanks to some very funny, VERY raunchy situations he dreams up for these likeable and recognizable characters. The premise of a so-called Sex Drive also offers ripe opportunities in this genre and Anders gets a lot of play out of it, particularly from Duke, whose uninhibited acting grabs most of the big laughs. Although they crank the gross factor way up, the film doesn’t lose sight that it’s mostly a coming-of-age comic look at a rite of passage most young guys -- and girls -- will identify with. Although much is predictable, Sex Drive has a strong sense of what it wants to be and in the end even turns sweetly romantic, something most films of this stripe rarely do.