Sex Tape
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 18, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
19
Negative:
14
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 18, 2014
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 full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 17, 2014
Segel and Diaz are gifted and game comedians, with a lot of audience appeal. But Lowe clearly upstages them, consummating their Sex Tape — and making you want to roll over and have a cigarette — while there’s still one reel to go. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanJul 16, 2014
Sex Tape feels like the halves of two different movies. There is a fun, believable comedy about family life... that is upended by the overly broad, barely funny attempts at reclaiming the sex tape. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 4, 2014
As supposedly taboo-smashing comedy, it’s never on full thrust, settling more for tentative gags with underwear firmly in place. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJul 17, 2014
It's clumsy and wacky and intermittently amusing, and Rob Lowe looks like he's having a great time playing Real-Life Ned Flanders With a Deeply Weird Side once again. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 15, 2014
The film wants to be wild and dark and crazy, but it's also a big studio summer movie, and so it feels like it flirts with truly insane material, but without ever really committing to it. Read full review
50
Village VoiceChris KlimekJul 22, 2014
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 full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 17, 2014
Two fundamental problems afflict Sex Tape (aside from the fact that it's not consistently funny): a shocking ignorance about the state of modern technology and a mistaken belief that the subject matter is inherently edgy. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 17, 2014
It's just an exhausted idea coasting on the charm of its stars. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 17, 2014
This frantic farce about a married couple whose video frolic goes viral would be much less bearable without the topspin Segel imparts to even his silliest dialogue. But he looks hollow-eyed and gaunt, like a man starving himself to prove a point. I want the old, lumpy Jason Segel back. Eat, bubbe, eat. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 17, 2014
About a third of it is a brilliant setup - but it's for a joke that never happens, at least not completely. A comedy, especially a broad sex comedy, needs to go to extremes. But Sex Tape is a little careful and contained. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJul 17, 2014
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 full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 16, 2014
Sex Tape is not quite the train wreck its TV ads make it out to be. Read full review
50
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJul 16, 2014
At 100-minutes, the movie drags and drags until finally losing steam in the last act and then collapses into a pile of worn out platitudes, limp gross out gags and gooey sentiment. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyJul 17, 2014
In the end, Sex Tape doesn't seduce, doesn't surprise and 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 full review
40
CineVueScott DavisSep 4, 2014
Another limp, almost laugh-free comedy to add to Diaz's long list of failures, Kasdan's Sex Tape fails to ignite the obvious chemistry between her and the usually solid Segel, himself in possibly his least entertaining performance. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 24, 2014
Ultimately, for all its running around in the middle of the night, Sex Tape plays it remarkably coy, reaffirming love, not lust. It’s the cinematic equivalent of sleeping in the wet spot. Read full review
40
SlateDana StevensJul 19, 2014
Sex Tape, conversely, is as timid, bland, and predictable as romantic comedies come — though it’s a hard movie to hate entirely. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 17, 2014
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 full review
40
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 17, 2014
An awkward and distinctly unsexy farcical misfire. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasJul 16, 2014
Sex Tape is a case study in how little interest American movies—and especially American sex comedies—have in dealing with sex as anything other than a source of cheap giggles and nonstop humiliation. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 16, 2014
How could a movie that offers Jason Segel riffing on sex and Cameron Diaz regularly disrobing be so dull? Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 17, 2014
Viewers seeking a fresh comedy, a seductive romp, or even just an escape from boredom for a couple hours will be left dismally unsatisfied by this stilted, nearly humorless, non-titillating slog. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJul 17, 2014
Now, Diaz and Segel co-star for Kasdan again in Sex Tape, but their characters are so indiscernible as actual human beings, it’s hard to tell who they are, much less whether they have any sort of enjoyable, raunchy chemistry. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJul 17, 2014
The cinematic equivalent of herpes, Sex Tape is an uncomfortable embarrassment to raunchy comedies everywhere. Fortunately, no medication is required after being exposed to it: The effects are not permanent, only painful. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 17, 2014
Sex Tape settles for violence when violent slapstick, a lot harder to finesse, was the implicit goal of the picture. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJul 16, 2014
It’s less a movie than a bad sitcom episode stretched to feature length and raunched up to an R rating. Read full review
30
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJul 17, 2014
For a movie filled with amateur porn, sex toys, cocaine and Cameron Diaz's butt, "Sex Tape" is awfully tame. You're in greater danger of taking a nap than needing a safe word. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 17, 2014
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 full review
30
TheWrapInkoo KangJul 15, 2014
Sex Tape is a hustler of a film — it works very hard for its laughs — but it's so haphazardly directed (by Jake Kasdan) and written (by Kate Angelo and Segel and Nicholas Stoller) that it can easily be divided into three distinct sections. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJul 15, 2014
Sex Tape is sexcruciating. Read full review
30
VarietyJustin ChangJul 15, 2014
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 full review
20
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJul 23, 2014
It is a bland, clawless comedy; a cautionary tale of a high concept gone horribly, horribly wrong. Read full review
12
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Courtney SheaJul 17, 2014
The most important question is one that should be answered before setting foot in the theatre, and it is this: How badly do you want to see Cameron Diaz’s butt? If your answer is so very badly, or even pretty darn bad, then by all means, buy a ticket. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineChris CabinJul 17, 2014
By the time a blackmailing plot is introduced, the film seems to be surviving solely on the fumes of curse words and frequent shots of Jason Segal and Cameron Diaz's backsides. Read full review
10
TimeRichard CorlissJul 21, 2014
Massively stupid: preposterous yet boring. Read full review
More From This Movie

36 Critic Reviews

3.1 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL