Sex Tape 2014

Critics score:
17 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Wesley Morris, Grantland: It's strange to watch a comedy full of talented people that does not work from the opening scene. It's like eating food and not tasting anything. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Even for a farce, the situations stretch credulity far beyond the breaking point. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Instead of soft core, "Sex Tape" offers no core. No narrative core, just a not-bad notion executed execrably; no core of conviction, just two stars trudging joylessly through swamps of mediocrity. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Sometimes, movies enchant and enlighten us about the human condition, and some nights, you go to "Sex Tape" and hope the popcorn isn't stale. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Preposterous yet boring. Sex Tape doesn't fall off the cliff of competence so much as it executes a slow, agonized mudslide of failed intentions. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: "Sex Tape" is an unaccountable drag - strained, toothless and far too tame to achieve the sort of outrageous, raunchy-titillating effect it's aiming for. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Gag and plot often seem unrelated, as though Segel and his regular co-writer, Nicholas Stoller, were trying to protect the characters from the consequences of their actions. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: For a movie filled with amateur porn, sex toys, cocaine and Cameron Diaz's butt, "Sex Tape" is awfully tame. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: If the first half of the movie is fairly sharp as these things go, the second half is increasingly, noisily ridiculous, with Diaz working extra hard for her laughs and verging on the shrill. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Given all the name-brand products invoked, their misadventure suggests a sort of nightmarish shopping spree. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: If "Sex Tape" ends up making money, it'll be strictly on the backs of its valiant performers, who surely sensed the weakness of the script and decided to go at it like a job, like turning an acting trick, finesse and pacing be damned. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Sex is treated first as brainless imperative, then as acrobatic duty, then as desperate consequence - it's never sexy in any way. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: The real sex tape that [the characters] Jay and Annie are chasing all over town might have at least had some instructive value. The movie Sex Tape that Jason and Cameron have made can't even make that claim. Read more

Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly: Kasdan ... doesn't quite seem to know what tone he's going for, and the last half of the movie veers wildly between crude hard-R comedy and warm-hearted teachable moments. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Sexcruciating. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Since it's a comedy, much could be forgiven if the film was consistent in generating laughs, but the comedy is as erratic as the couple's sex life. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The cinematic equivalent of herpes. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Given its subject matter and R rating, "Sex Tape" isn't as wild or woolly as it could be. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "Sex Tape" doesn't seduce, it doesn't surprise and it certainly doesn't satisfy. It only leaves you feeling a little taken advantaged of, as you take your walk of shame back to your car - and hoping you never hear from it again. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: How could a movie that offers Jason Segel riffing on sex and Cameron Diaz regularly disrobing be so dull? Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The main reason that "Sex Tape," while often quite funny, fails to qualify as a comedy is the absence of any real conflict or complication. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The folks behind Sex Tape did their homework. They just forgot the laughs. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Yes, there are some laughs, but they're not as big or as frequent as one might expect from a would-be "major" comedy. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: It's a one-joke movie that feels like a one-joke movie. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: This movie sometimes resembles an R-rated Apple infomercial - Segel actually delivers an enthusiastic monologue about the hi-res camera on the new iPad - but if that was the deal the Cupertino folks need to get their money back. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The whole problem with "Sex Tape" in a sentence: After its first third, the two lead characters just run around trying to prevent something that the audience very much wants to see happen. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: As timid, bland, and predictable as romantic comedies come ... Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: There's not much to this pratfalling exercise in futility that we haven't seen before except for a flash of Cameron Diaz's bare rump. And that is hardly an experience worth 100 minutes of your one and only life. Read more

Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times: An uneasy comedy that is not without its laugh-out-loud moments. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Just lie back and think of funnier films. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A tired premise and a sheen of desperate flop sweat tanks this DOA comedy, which plays more like an ancient Playboy doodle than a full-fledged movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: [A] stilted, nearly humorless, non-titillating slog ... Read more

Chris Klimek, Village Voice: Sex Tape is warmer and more amusing than its ads would lead one to believe. In fact, it's almost good enough, leaning a little too hard on the innate likability of stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: At heart, it's about as naughty as an old Disney movie with Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, and an unruly Great Dane. I liked its gung-ho slapstick spirit, though. No one's slacking off. Read more