So last weekend we had the release of the Jason Segel/Cameron Diaz comedy Sex Tape and, not too surprisingly to me, it wound up placing fourth in terms of box-office draw:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/20/dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-box-office_n_5603792.html

It isn’t too often that I get a chance to head out to theaters and actually see a film during its initial release (hence my many *belated* movie reviews), but for whatever reason this summer I actually found time to see several new releases.

I believe it was when I went to see the Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt sci-fi film Edge of Tomorrow that I first saw the theatrical trailer to Sex Tape.  Now, I distinctly recall none of the theatrical trailers that I saw were all that memorable or made me want to see the films they were peddling.  But while those film trailers are for the most part forgotten, I remembered the trailer for Sex Tape.

For all the wrong reasons.

When the trailer was done, I turned to my wife (she usually is up for romantic comedies) and the look on her face reflected my sentiments: This film looked awful.

Much has been talked about how John Carter was a victim of poor promotion, but in the case of Sex Tape, I couldn’t help but feel the promotion for this film probably was likely a good reflection on the film itself.  As such, I repeat: It looked awful.  Judge for yourself:

Where to start?  Jason Segel has obviously lost weight and, while sporting a toned body (I’m envious!), his face is gaunt to the point of distracting.  Cameron Diaz…well, she’s doing what looks to be her typical Cameron Diaz romantic comedy stuff.  She remains a very pretty woman and looks game for the shenanigans.

As I re-watched the above video, I couldn’t help but notice the time counter on the lower left side.  At about the one minute mark of the trailer we reach the point where the studios behind the film identify themselves.

And I realized that a whole minute had passed in a two minute thirty seven second trailer for a comedy and I hadn’t even cracked a smile, much less laughed.  It wasn’t until the 1:21 second mark, when Cameron Diaz offers a (cut) vulgar reaction to hearing about the “cloud” that I first smiled.  Didn’t laugh, but I enjoyed her reaction.

At about the 1:45 second mark we have the “Nobody understands the cloud” lines.  Again I smiled.  Amusing, but far from hilarious.

Finally, 2:19 seconds in we have the “Siri” joke.  This was, to me, the only really amusing part of the trailer and actually elicited a chuckle.  I seem to recall that the others in the theater also laughed.  I believe it was the only time anyone did during the trailer.

So, in sum: Two smiles and a laugh during a two minute, thirty seven second trailer.

Is it any wonder the film isn’t doing all that well?