Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Summit Entertainment
Blu-ray: Summit Entertainment
Disc:
Region: A
Runtime: R-Rated
Chapters: 16
Size: 50 GB
Case: Standard Blu-ray case w/ slipcover
Release date: February 24, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: R-Rated Theatrical, 1.78:1. Unrated, 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC
Audio:
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English and Spanish
Extras:
• R-Rated & Unrated Versions
• Audio commentary with Director Sean Anders, Writer John
Morris, and Producer Bob Levy.
• Making a Masterpiece (11:41)
• The Marsden Dilemma (4:48)
• Clark: Duke of the Internet (3:58)
The Film:
7
Long gone are the days when movies had only novels and plays
for their inspiration rather than other movies. Pop cultural
references, sequels, rip-offs, homages – these are now the
stuff of many a movie from the well intended to the quick
and dirty. In Sean Anders' Sex Drive a trio of best friends
- Ian, Felicia and Lance (Josh Zuckerman, Amanda Crew and
Clark Duke) - travel some 800 miles in a hot 1969 GTO Judge
so that Ian can lose his virginity to his Internet babe. The
movie is Rob Reiner's The Sure Thing by way of Risky
Business, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Witness and, believe
it or not, Walkabout and Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
While the temptation to deconstruct Sex Drive into its
various references is calling I think I'll let that pass and
simply recommend the movie and let you enjoy them.
So, I gotta tell you that I really enjoyed this movie. I'm
sure this was partly the result of low expectations ("low"
as in low comedy), but also that I liked the director right
off. I went straight for the Unrated cut, but Anders and
Morris, in some of the funniest material on the disc, warned
me off. After watching the R-Rated theatrical film first, I
can see why – the Unrated version is just the feature film
with 20 minutes of outtakes, extended ad-lib silliness and
lots of male and female frontal nudity randomly and
bodaciously tossed in.
I suppose the "R" Rating has less to do with its raunchy
language, its preoccupation with sex, and the occasional
bits of nudity than the fact that the protagonists are high
schoolers. For all its hype – which I take to be tongue in,
er, cheek – Sex Drive is a familiar story in new clothes,
even while they remain on the body more than you might wish.
We now pause briefly for kudos to James Marsden as every
younger brother's nightmare, and Seth Green as a sly and
very zen Amish mechanic. Without them and the doughnut,
there is no movie.
Image:
7/8
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Colors are nicely saturated, with natural skin tones and
good blacks, if not a little crushed at times. There is a
tendency for the image to appear brightened a bit in darker
locations so as to bring up shadow information, but this may
be the original intent. I didn't find any blemishes,
artifacts or problematic sharpening. However, there appears
to be pervasive medium grain to the image that might be
machine noise, rather than film grain. This contributes to
an image that is a not so much soft as inadequately
resolved. I can't say that it bothered me very much once
into the movie, however.
Audio & Music:
5/7
All at once now: HIGH DEFINITION MEANS AUDIO AS WELL AS
VIDEO. Isn't lossless audio just a matter of pushing this
button instead of that one? Surely it can't be space problem
since one or more bonus feature can be brought in at a lower
bit rate if it came to that. Dialogue and music suffers
quite a bit on this Blu-ray. There's no air anywhere.
Dynamics are quashed. The band in the Amish barn seems to be
having a great time, but you'd never know from the sound of
it. 'Nuf said.
Operations:
8
Load times are reasonable, getting right to the page where
we choose the version we want to watch. The menu design is
cute and not static nor annoyingly animated.
Extras:
6
While "Making a Masterpiece" has the structure of your basic
EPK self-congratulating featurette, the content is all very
tongue-in-cheek on the parts of all concerned. It simply
reeks of drunken self-parody. Much the same can be said for
the two other segments that focus on Marsden, the
actor/character and Clark Duke (shouldn't that read the
other way around?). Marsden is a hoot. Though not listed as
a bonus feature I should mention the hilarious intro to the
unrated cut by Anders and Morris, with assists from Clark
and Amanda and two nude statue/humans (or is it the other
way around?) These are all in very good quality
480p.
The commentary with pretty nearly first time
writer-directors Sean Anders and John Morris with producer
Bob Levy tells their story of how they came to be involved
in this project, along with frequent comments on casting and
production. It's mostly Anders' show and he's often funny,
always entertaining, sometimes informative.
An aside: Anders refers to Seth Green's performance as "edgy
and sarcastic" whereas I see the actor here and in general,
as detached and ironic. Have I been misunderstanding "edgy"
all these years? A trip to the dictionary reveals: "having a
sharp, biting edge. . .daring, provocative or
trend-setting." Hmmm. "Sarcastic" implies ridicule, an
intention to hurt. What I've always liked about Seth is that
you can't quite tell when he is putting you on, and when you
find that he has been, you smile warmly – the very absence
of a sarcastic edge, I would have thought. I wonder how
Anders cues his actors if how he expresses his idea about
their basic character might be different from what is
generally understood? Oh, well. It doesn't seem to matter in
the final print.
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Bottom line: 7
For what it intends to be, Sex Drive is a fun and, in many
ways, innocent ride. Image quality is good, but not stellar;
the audio is compromised. So, not a great Blu-ray, but a
good video in what is likely to be its best incarnation.
Leonard Norwitz
February 22nd, 2009
