THE FILM:

With Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz as the leads, I assumed there would be plenty of laughs in Jake Kasdan's comedy about a missing sex tape. I was wrong. This shockingly inept, consistently unfunny comedy drops the ball thanks to a dull screenplay and lack of focus. Three writers, including Segel, cannot get a single laugh in Sex Tape, and the film fails to capitalize on its R rating and promising premise. The film's 94 minutes felt like an eternity, and I expected more out of Diaz and Kasdan, whose Bad Teacher collaboration is at least silly and funny.

Jay (Segel) and Annie (Diaz) want to rekindle the nonstop passion and all-over sexing they enjoyed before having children. Annie suggests they make a sex tape to spice things up in the bedroom. Cut to the next morning, when the happy lovers discover that the naughty home video has made its way to the cloud and onto iPads the couple gave away as gifts. Logic and common sense go out the window as Jay and Annie attempt to reclaim all the iPads and erase the sex tape from the Internet. Let me call bullshit on something right here. The movie's incredibly lazy catalyst for releasing the sex tape is ridiculous. No one gives away handfuls of iPads to random neighbors and friends. I do not care that Jay always has to have the newest model. And the nerd-baiting cloud syncing software that Jay uses but does not understand? Also stupid.

Brain-dead techno babble aside, a leaked sex tape with Segel and Diaz should have been a really funny backbone for a film. It is too bad Sex Tape is so terrible. Jokes miss the mark by miles, and half the scenes feel like Kasdan shot a bunch of improvisations or outtakes and desperately edited them together to create something resembling a cohesive film. Diaz and Segel have zero chemistry on screen, and I was embarrassed for them while watching this mess. I like both actors, especially Diaz, but I doubt either put in much effort here. Kasdan got Diaz to play a delightfully naughty, profane teacher in Bad Teacher to decent results. He gets her exposed and irritated here, but the humor does not follow.

The film manages a couple of chuckles when Jay and Annie visit a Porn Hub-inspired company to plead with its founder (Jack Black) to erase the video, but by then it is too little too late. Rob Lowe is not funny as Annie's cokehead boss, and Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper do not fair much better as neighbors who watch the sex tape. Kasdan's direction is lax and uninspired, and the film's technical merits are just as unimpressive. If you enjoy kicks to the nuts, smart-ass kids and overacting, you might enjoy Sex Tape. It is an R-rated movie for eight year olds.

THE BLU-RAY:

PICTURE:

Sony usually releases top-tier transfers, so it's a bit surprising that Sex Tape does not look particularly impressive in high definition. The 1.85:1/1080p/AVC-encoded image from a digital source is soft and lacks detail. Contrast is cranked way too high, giving the actors a nice orange glow. Black crush is present, too, and the inconsistent image feels more like standard definition.

SOUND:

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is not particularly aggressive but works fine for this material. Dialogue is clear and balanced well with effects and score. A few ambient and action effects reach the surround speakers, and clarity is good in both quieter, dialogue-driven scenes and louder actions bits. A French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and a Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital track are included, as are English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

PACKAGING AND EXTRAS:

This single-disc release is packed in a standard case that is wrapped in a slipcover. There are apparently two variants of the slipcover. One appears to be for the Wal-Mart crowd, as it partially obscures the word "Sex" in the film's title. An UltraViolet HD digital copy is included. Extras include Capturing the Moment (5:48/HD), an EPK-style making-of, and Meet Hank Rosenbaum (2:27/HD), about Rob Lowe's character. You also get a Blooper Reel (5:17/HD); Deleted and Extended Scenes (6:27 total/HD); Line-O-Rama (4:55/HD); and Romance Reboot (9:56/HD), which features advice from sex therapist Dr. Jenn Berman.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Not funny. Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel are completely wasted in this lowbrow comedy from Director Jake Kasdan. The Blu-ray is nothing to write home about, either. Skip It.

William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.