Sex Drive (Blu-Ray)

Sooner or later, the new breed of coming-of-age comedy (good ones like Superbad, not-so-good ones like College) had to inspire a parody of itself, and that self-conscious knock-off is the sporadically funny Sex Drive. A road movie about a virginal nice guy, Ian (John Zuckerman), who drives cross-country in his brother's car to score with a girl he met online, Sex Drive sounds like just another teen farce. But it isn't, exactly: with stops in a rockin' Amish community, in the redneck house of a bathroom fetishist, and in Ian's own family home (where a well-meaning new stepmother is continually exposed to Ian's unsavory private life), the film has an original life of its own. Casting counts for a lot in this movie. Clark Duke plays the likeable, over-confident nebbish we've come to expect since meeting McLovin' in Superbad, and Amanda Crew is Felicia, Ian's best friend and obvious romantic destiny (once these crazy kids figure that out). The three of them go traveling together in search of Ian's sure thing. But Sex Drive really becomes a much better comedy once Seth Green appears (as an Amish guy steeped in guilt-tripping sarcasm) and James Marsden (as Ian's bullying, homophobic brother) lets loose with a very funny performance. The two of them, really, have never been better on screen. There are a number of noteworthy scenes, particularly a chaotic climax that brings most of the characters together for an unexpected finish. Sex Drive, in some ways, is a more inspired movie than some of the ones it lampoons. --Tom Keogh