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Sex Tape (2014), R, ★1/2

Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz preparing to make some sort of tape.
It is daunting and ambitious for someone or a couple to just say, "What the hell?" and go with some broadcasts that showcases the person masturbating or the couple fornicating on a webcam. Any person in their inner circle will question that 1) they are insane and 2) their sex life has spiraled downward. In a way, let's just say that their decision is like therapy but fun and entertaining therapy rather than spending a lot of money going to a sex therapist. But, when you mix up foreplay and comedy, it has to be done well. When this movie was made, those ingredients do not mix well due to a weak script and attempts to be funny.

Mommy blogger Annie Hargrove (Cameron Diaz) asks her fans on her latest post to remember the first time their man saw them naked. She remembers when Jay (Jason Segel), her boyfriend at the time, and herself used to have sex constantly regardless of anybody was watching them or not and what location. When Annie gets pregnant and have two kids, Jay's and Annie's sex life diminished and even though they look at each other naked, Annie does not think about the spice in their marriage.

In the present day, Jay works at a radio station when Annie works at a company who wants to purchase her blog. Despite some of the explicit content that is put on the blog such as Jay's erections, Hank Rosenbaum (Rob Lowe) is interested in buying her blog. Annie wants to celebrate so she calls her mother, Linda (Nancy Lenehan) to take their children to her house. Annie surprises Jay by wearing a nearly transparent white shirt with pink panties and roller blades. They both are clumsy and try to get active, but it fails them both. By drinking shots of tequila and encountering Jay's iPad, drunk, they decide to do a "sex tape" by performing positions based on the book, the "Joy of Sex". After 3 hours, the tape is done and as they go to sleep, Jay tells Annie that it will be deleted. But, uh oh, trouble is in the air.

While hosting a party for Clive's upcoming graduation ceremony, Jay gets a text saying that he enjoyed the video and that the person thanks him for sharing. He discovers on all of his Apple merchandise that it was synced into the Cloud. Annie starts overhearing the sounds of the tape and forces Jay to come out clean and they plan on destroying every Apple merchandise regarding the tape starting with his son's. But, they also realize that all of their friends have the products. So, they come up with a plan to retrieve all the data and destroy it instead of just talking to them.

Rob Lowe going crazy with Diaz.
This movie is a one-joke film that is like starting a car and runs in a city block and sputters. The film does not go anywhere with the storyline because the first half of this movie is the relationship in limbo and the second half is an advertisement for Apple with them destroying almost every product and encouraging a few people to delete the tape of a website. Especially in the second half, the movie drags and goes on and on and on with jokes just being slapstick. This movie is almost like a bad Looney Tunes cartoon.

What's with Cameron Diaz lately? Her myriad of terrible films began since Knight and Day. My point is that she has not been in a good film in about 5 or 6 years in my opinion. The Other Woman had a good first 30 minutes with Diaz and Leslie Mann's chemistry. And, there, I saw a glimmer of hope and a ray of sunshine from her performance. She needs to get back to charming and smart comedies. But, I still do have hope for her. Diaz and Segel's chemistry is not convincing and really bores you. The only performance that really is funny was Rob Lowe's performance. He is just a normal Ned Flanders-like neighbor doing wacky and "laugh-out-loud" moments that makes you shout out laughter constantly. Unfortunately, he has a very small role.

There are lines by Diaz and Segel that are worthy of chuckles and Rob Lowe's performance, and that's it. I wished that Jake Kasdan, the director of Bad Teacher, which also starred Diaz and Jason Segel, explored the downfall and the psychological aspects of a marriage being a boring marriage a little bit more because it would have brought natural humor on to the screen instead of just lame jokes about sex positions, erections, and destroying the tape. This movie is a tad worse than Bad Teacher and I hate to say it, worse than The Other Woman. Don't get me wrong, I think the latter is a bad comedy, not an awful comedy. It is an unfunny one-joke movie that wears out its welcome with its lame jokes and jumbled script. If you see it on cable and DVR it, fast forward to the Rob Lowe stuff and you'll laugh and then delete the movie off your DVR.

*1/2

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