The Asylum Home Entertainment / 2012 / 90 mins / UR

THE FILM:
There are two kinds of teen sex comedies: first there are the coming of age movies where we get our small group of male high school friends who are desperate to lost their virginity and go on a wacky, mad-capped quest to achieve their goal. These films are very much driven by the strict set of stereo-typed characters we grow to know, love and root for through out their adventures. Think of movies like LOSIN’ IT, PORKY’S, AMERICAN PIE and THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN. The second type of teen sex comedy exists pretty much to show as much female flesh as they can within their running time. They usually have the barest (no pun intended) of plots and don’t exactly cross the line into pornography, but get as close as they can. CELEBRITY SEX TAPE firmly falls into this later group.

The group over at The Asylum has cranked out CELEBRITY SEX TAPE and since this particular genre doesn’t really require much in the way of talent (like horror films require one to write a scary script or a science fiction film usually requires something intelligent in the story), they really don’t need to do much other than to have hot women shed their clothes to deliver a finished film. And that’s what we have here: a premise that requires lots of nudity and character stereo-types that exist to deliver base humor and gross-out visual gags.

Here we have the good guy Ross (Jack Cullison), his best friend Ed (Jonathan Brett), book-smart but dating-challenged guy Marcus (Colbert Alembert), wacky unintelligible foreign guy Kwan (Howard Cai) and internet porn obsessed guy Doug (Andre Meadows) as our college buddies looking for sex. When they get invited to a swanky Hollywood party, Ed manages to have sex with a mostly forgotten B movie actress while Ross films it with his cell phone. When Doug uploads it on the internet, it becomes a viral success, reviving the actress’ career and bringing the wrath of her insane agent upon the group. He demands $500,000 from them in the next 30 days or else he will kill and/or expose what they did to the police. The group decides to try to find other washed up actresses to have on-line sex with to raise the money and are soon flooded with offers. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, what could go wrong is that the THREE writers of CELEBRITY SEX TAPE couldn’t really think of a decent problem for our group to wrangle with for the second half of the movie. They set up their premise and everything worked out. 40 minute movie and it’s pretty much done. While they do come up with material for the second half, it feels EXTREMELY forced and existing only to fill up a running time.

Overall, the movie is juvenile and amateurishly made; nothing that is unexpected mind you. The cheapness of the production feels right for the tone of the movie. Acting is broad and over the top across the board. CELEBRITY SEX TAPE is predictable and rather bland but does deliver on its promoted promise of lots of nudity, sex and gross jokes.

THE DISC:
The anamorphic 1.78 transfer is okay. Color saturation and the abundant skin tones are all accurate. Detail is very good with shadow detail being acceptable but not spectacular.

Like other Asylum DVD releases, the soundtrack is available in either a Dolby Digital 2.0 or a 5.1 surround mix. Being a teen comedy, there isn’t really a need for an immersive soundscape, but the 5.1 mix offers several juicy directional effects and both offer excellent clarity. Nothing to complain about on the technical front.

THE EXTRAS:
The supplements are completely fluffy and forgettable.

We kick off with a very short “The Making of CELEBRITY SEX TAPE” which offers little more than the main cast members describing their characters.

The “Gag Reel” is either actors flubbing their lines or mugging to the camera.

The “Deleted/Extended Scenes” feature, literally, a second or two added to the end of two of the films big sex scenes and a small deleted scene that added nothing.

MY SAY:
If you are looking for lots of nudity strung together by the barest of plots, CELEBRITY SEX TAPE is just what the doctor ordered. If you’re looking for a good movie, there are lots of other titles in the big red box and your streaming rental queue that will do the trick.

Reviewed by Jeff Allen