Sex Tape Synopsis: A married couple wake up to discover that the sex tape they made the evening before has gone missing, leading to a frantic search for its whereabouts.
When trying to spice up their sex life, Annie and Jay record themselves having sex on Jay’s iPad. Unbeknownst to them both, the video ends up syncing to all of the other iPads Jay had given away as gifts, leading Annie and Jay on a series of misadventures to try and get the iPads back before their most private moments are revealed.
Sex Tape has a humorous premise that might have worked had it made any sense. Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) decide to use The Joy of Sex as inspiration for making a sex tape to regain the spice in their sex life. They record it on Jay’s iPad and then agree to delete it. But Jay does not delete it; instead, it syncs to multiple iPads that Jay had given out to family and friends – and the mailman.
Jay claims no one knows how the Cloud works, so they have to track down every iPad given and manually delete the file. This is the reason for the insane, late-night shenanigans.
It’s a contrived sex comedy that depends on farcical situations to draw laughs. I will admit that I did chuckle now and then, but for the most part, the jokes don’t land. There is nothing in Sex Tape I haven’t seen in many other sex comedies. The lack of common sense is far too frustrating to let it slide just because Jay and Annie may not know technology as well as their young son – or even their friend’s son, who ends up blackmailing them.
Segel and Diaz have some decent chemistry, but the script and lack of character development let them both down. Rob Lowe as Diaz’s soon-to-be-boss is mildly humorous, but again, his talents are wasted on tired rap and drug jokes. Ellie Kemper and Rob Corddry are the only real bright spots as Jay and Annie’s best friends, Tess and Robbie, but they’re sorely underused.
I’m not entirely sure what Sex Tape meant to do other than be an hour-and-a-half product placement for Apple products. But I will say it was a complete disappointment.
Watched: 01/04/2023
Notable Song: Pony by Ginuwine
