BY MIKEY MIGO
I recently watched "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" and was let down. I went in with high hopes and the movie was not my cup of tea in the least bit. Things work out that way sometimes. Our expectations get the best of us. Then there's the flip side to that experience. I went into watch "Sex Drive" with very little expectations and left it much happier than I was with "Nick and Norah". I feel bad for this movie because as soon as hit TV with ads everyone I know and people online made the unfair comparison to "Superbad". Unlike, "Nick and Norah", I feel like "Sex Drive" isn't trying to be a "whatever is currently hip" clone. It does have some recycled flavor, but it feels more like homage than copy. I told a friend that I could imagine the first meeting of the movie going "Have Apatow edge! American Pie charm! And use as many 80's movie cliché's without being too obvious about it! Okay! Go write it!" That may sound like I'm trashing the movie, but really I'm not. I am a huge Apatow fan, but I cringe at the copycats. "Sex Drive" is R-rated, but it's more over the top and probably more comparable to the 90's "classic" "Roadtrip". NOT "Eurotrip", but the one that's enjoyable and watchable. I say "American Pie charm" with respect as that first movie (not so much as the rest) had tons of heart hidden beneath its "pie fucking" image. Then the 80's cliche' comment comes to mind because of the whole "I really love my (hot) best friend, but didn't realize it until JUST NOW" relationship between two of the characters. Then at start I thought Marsden's character was going to be "Chet"(Weird Science) of 2008. While the similarities of the older asshole brother storyline can be comparable, Marsden made it work. If I told you which ones, I'd be spoiling it. Seriously, this movie is A LOT better than it looked. It's not great or perfect, but it's definitely worth watching, renting, or whatever you have to do to see it. I've seen a stupid amount of movies in the past year and this one would get a solid "B" grade.
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