Sex Tape
Starring: Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Lowe, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 2/5]

Sex Tape represents a horrifying brand of comedy that god hopes dies with this release. One that isn’t created for the sake of a good story – rather seems to have been made solely to promote a product.

Usually when product placements occur in films, audiences roll their eyes at the giant Subway sign, gratuitously long shot of branded bottled vodka, or branded t-shirt and move on. It’s annoying and cringeworthy, but it’s not the be all and end all. Sex Tape makes it impossible to forget.

The story has literally been designed around the product. Annie and Jay are a married with two kid’s couple trying to put the zing back into their sex-life.  Things are fizzling until Annie comes up with the brilliant idea to make a sex tape – filmed by Jay’s blessed iPad of course. Unfortunately, the app Frankensync sends the video to all the iPad’s Jay’s given out in the past (seriously this guy has iPad’s coming out the wazoo) – putting the video in the hot little hands of their friends, Annie’s prospective boss, her mother and their kids. Oops.

There was a good story here, somewhere. A story about a married couple trying to reclaim the spark that marriage and children gradually subdues. Great! Lots of people can relate to it, so the opportunity for heartfelt comedic gold is there. But this isn’t about the couple. It’s about the iPad.

Segel’s character works as a record exec – so of course he needs multiple iPads to store his music. There are lines in this film that sound like they are pulled directly from apple advertising, as Jay spouts the benefits of its sturdiness, how much memory it has, how amazing the resolution from the iPad’s camera is, the features of ‘the cloud’ that causes the video havoc – it’s absolutely shameless, and awkward as hell. It makes the film feel as pre-packaged and commercial as the iPad itself.

There are some non-iPad related funny moments, which are jarringly hilarious in contrast to the advertising waffle. Rob Lowe is the standout as the head of Piper Brothers, Annie’s boss and one of the recipients of the infamous iPads. His representation of a dad gone wild is tear-inducing – as are his Disney themed home decor. His is the standout scene, probably the only reason to see Sex Tape at all.

Segel and Diaz proved they had chemistry in 2011’s Bad Teacher. The former does the goofy slapstick that has made him watchable in comedies of recent years, but Diaz’s Annie seems to be a conglomeration of clichés. Her over the top facial expressions and caricatured reactions are not entertaining – we have seen the same thing from her 100 times before, and its wearing thin.

Sex Tape had the potential to be a heart-warming comedy, and is sporadically funny, but I already see enough ads for apple in my everyday life – I don’t need a feature length version.