Daryl Tay.net

So first of all, let me say that we (Irini, Leah and myself) didn’t intend to watch this movie. We intended to watch “Burn After Reading”, but because our little cinema here in Kingston is so small, the movies change really fast. So they had five new movies starting today, so apparently “Burn After Reading” was bumped off the list. So of course, the boy in me said “Let’s watch Sex Drive!” with nothing else to go on other than the fact that James Marsden (Cyclops from X-Men) is in the movie. And that the poster involves a donut costume.

Sex Drive Poster

So watch it we did, and the movie premise is nothing new or original. Think of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle or Superbad, replace finding White Castle and that glittery bottle of alcohol with meeting a girl he met online and you have the plot.

Amanda Crew

The difference is that this movie has a considerable amount of emotion in it. Not the male hate emotion common in Harold & Kumar or Superbad, but the female addition of Amanda Crew adds a new dynamic to the genre traditionally dominated by male-male interaction. (ps: She’s Canadian!)

The final plot thread of Ian meeting the online girl (Ms Tasty) was pretty surprising. I for one was totally expecting Ms Tasty to turn out to be a man or tranny, but that would’ve been too obvious now, wouldn’t it?

Humour-wise, the show is funny. It’s not outrageously funny where you’re laughing minute-to-minute, but it’s funny enough that you won’t feel bored. (If you do, there’s Amanda Crew to look at).

What I liked was the plot point with the whole “I like you but we’re best friends and it might place our friendship at risk” angle. It’s been done before, but this version felt particularly true, especially the scene in the “burning room”-themed motel. Patricularly relevant to me now, but we’ve all felt that from time to time, right?

FOB & Seth Green

The other thing that stuck out for me was the soundtrack. Okay I love “Life Is Beautiful” by Vega 4 as much as anyone, but it’s already been done on Grey’s Anatomy, and having it play thrice in the show was just overkill for me. On the other side of the coin, Fall Out Boy makes a cute cameo appearance that I wasn’t expecting at all, and they have a great little scene with Seth Green during the credits. You can read more about how they got to be on the show from MTV Asia (no, I’m not linking them because they’re my ex-employer. They just happened to be in the Google results).

All in all, I did enjoy the show. It was a nice chill out on Friday night movie. Amazingly the theatre had no more than two rows full. I guess people in Kingston have “better” things to do (like getting drunk) on Fridays! Catch the show, particularly if you’re a fan of Harold & Kumar, American Pie and/or Superbad.

Oh and one more thing: “take that girl; and go visit grandma!”