In part one of a two part series on studio blunders, I’ll be taking a look at the latest raunchy comedy aimed at college students, Sex Drive.
Though the main cast is mostly unknowns – Clark Duke (known mostly for his web series with Michael Cera, and now for TV’s Greek), Josh Zuckerman (Lions for Lambs), Amanda Crew (John Tucker Must Die), they bolstered them by adding James Marsden and Seth Green to round out the supporting players.
However, this is all for naught in the end if the movie isn’t marketed right.
This isn’t a lame ripoff of Superbad, but the trailers and TV spots for the movie lead to conclusions like this. Constantly replaying Marsden’s line “She’s probably a guy!” not only becomes quickly repetitive, but it also misses the best of the jokes that Marsden makes to his younger brother.
Seth Green’s Ezekiel is left almost completely out of most of the TV spots, which is a shame, because he’s the funniest character in the movie.
It’s hard to translate R-rated comedy down to a trailer suitable for television, and its understandable that there would be trouble in changing Sex Drive to air on television, but the bigger issue here is the way the cuts change the feeling of the movie.
The scenes from Sex Drive that do make the trailer focus on the goofy scenes of Josh Zuckerman wearing a Mexican donut costume, which are not indicative of the kind of humor that pervades the movie. It’s not stupid gags based on a costume and keystone cops actions, it’s a movie that draws its humor from well-written characters who are able to fire back and forth with sharp quips.
It’s a shame that the film has been shown so poorly by the trailers, as it’s a truly funny movie that will probably get tossed by the wayside in this crowded release week.
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