This Rotten Week: Predicting Sex Tape, The Purge: Anarchy, And Planes: Fire And Rescue Reviews

We're sort of getting into the dregs of the summer movie season with some bigger name flicks that look completely uninspiring hitting the big screen. It makes me wish I had just gone ahead and done a writeup about Boyhood (Predicted: Amazing, Actual: 100%) just for the sheer brilliance of the concept and execution. Alas, we are stuck with planes, sex tapes and purges.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.

Having never taken part in creating, filming or performing in a sex tape, it’s hard for me to connect with the thought of having one go out into the ether, absorbed or viewed by my friends and family. I also can’t really imagine a situation in which I’m financially flush enough to gift all my friends and family their own personal iPad. So this movie is a fantasy for a couple of different reasons.

Take a look at what I mean in this trailer for Sex Tape,



This kind of comedy, the ever-escalating series of crazy events tied around a central problem to solve, can work in the right instances. Many movies have pulled it off. The Hangover comes to mind. Then again, it can bomb dramatically and become nearly unwatchable as the hijinks cycles past any sense of comedy and get into downright stupidity. The Hangover Part II comes to mind. I very much feel this flick will fall into the latter category as Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz work to recover the copies of the sex tape they unknowingly released into the world. Frankly, it looks pretty stupid. A movie based on a title and concept rather than an organically conceived bunch of shenanigans that happen to turn out pretty funny.

Director Jason Kasdan has some experience turning out well-received comedies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (75%). He’s also saddled us with Bad Teacher (45%) (which also featured Diaz and Segel) so it isn’t like he’s a model of consistent humor. And it isn’t like the leads haven’t given us chuckles in the past. I just don’t think it happens this time in a movie that looks like they started throwing jokes and scenarios against a wall without bothering to see what would stick.