Laid In America

Released By: Universal
Released On: October 4, 2016
Director: Sam Milman, Peter Vass
Cast: KSI, Caspar Lee, Bobby Lee, Madison Iseman, Josh Leyva
Year: 2016
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The Movie:

For those of us that grew up with film in the 70's, 80's, and even 90's, the teen sex comedy is not a new thing. Largely owing to 1978's Animal House, the barrage of films that followed were largely memorable for toilet humour, rowdy characters, and of course, rampant nudity. Odds are that if you were a minor in the early 1980's, you witnessed topless shenanigans via a copy of Porky's, Fraternity Vacation, or other similar fare, courtesy of somebody's father or older brother's tape collection. In the late 90's, we saw the genre gain new popularity with American Pie, and a slew of ripoffs that followed. Despite finding the American Pie films more amusing than most, I can't say that I followed what came after...and after seeing Laid In America, I'm kind of glad that I didn't bother.

Starring two "youtubers" (for you old folks, this is somebody who gained celebrity through exposure via viral youtube videos), Laid In America introduces us to Jack (Caspar Lee), a South African foreign exchange student attending high school in California, and fellow student and housemate Duncan (he has a real name, but apparently changed it to KSI) an exchange student from Britain. They've taken full advantage of everything that America has to offer; quality education, Disneyland, and baseball games; but they're sadly still virgins on the last day before they're scheduled to return home. Even their principal is disgusted with them, admonishing the two for not even getting with "the fat ones", and instructing them that if they can't get laid in America, they can't get laid anywhere.

The two virgins decide that they won't return home without being deflowered, and begin grasping at available straws. It seems that Jack might be on an immediate high road when the attractive Kaylee (Madison Iseman) lets him know that she's had her eye on him all semester and would love to hook up with him at her ex-boyfriend Tucker's end-of-year party, and even Duncan figures he's got a chance when an impromptu passionate rap about FIFA gets a strange-looking female classmate hot enough to dry hump the edge of her desk. There's just one problem...Tucker doesn't want the two foreign douchebags at his party, especially since Kaylee obviously likes Jack, and he tells them he won't let them in unless they show up with two hot girls who aren't fellow alumni.

Convinced that it's their destiny to attend the party, the horny lads turn to Duncan's wise brother, who tells them about Blindr, a blind dating site guaranteed to get immediate results. Certain that they'll need to up the ante to get the real hotties, Duncan convinces Jack to pose with him as extremely wealthy business tycoons, complete with ultra-hip attire and a (rented) limo, which they use to meet their prospective dates. Unfortunately, they've set themselves as easy marks for Amber, a scheming floozy who drugs Jack and Duncan and takes them to her boyfriend; a fat Asian gangster named Goose (Bobby Lee), who has big dreams of moving out of his mom's basement. But it'll take more than a kidnapping to get in the way of two horny dudes with boners, even if escape from Goose means facing dead coke whores, dead cats, and pissed off football jocks.

With a quick glance, Laid In America seems to have everything in place to prove success in the genre. Excessive (EXCESSIVE!) profanity spills from every scene, often played up for laughs coming from unseemly sources, and that mixes in well with the heavy crotch-thrusting, pants-tenting, dry humping, and in some cases, literal toilet humour. Drug and alcohol use? Check. Girls with big boobs? Sort of. Sex? Well...not really. A good team dynamic between the leads? Uh....no. Laid In America's biggest flaw is the two leads, "youtubers", who have almost zero screen presence and no chemistry at all, with each other or with anyone else in the film.

A simple premise isn't hard to take to the stars in the genre, but somehow, this one doesn't come close. This seems thrown together, like the writers had a basic concept and a few scenes that they thought would be funny, but in the context of the film don't work well together at all. Each joke falls flat as the film blows its load prematurely, informing us that the majority of the forthcoming gags will be Duncan screaming loudly and thrusting his crotch madly, Jack being quiet and shy in awkward situations, and Bobby Lee essentially doing a Ken Jeong impersonation every time he's on screen.

Animal House, Porky's, American Pie...all of these films featured (for the most part) good actors, who you actually believed were friends with each other, and who had a sense of comedic timing and personality. Laid In America shows us how not to do it. And to top it all off, there's next to no nudity...this is essentially a PG-13 film, obviously aimed at the billions of tweeners out there who helped these youtube guys become celebrities.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Universal brings Laid In America to Blu-ray in a 2.35:1 AVC-encoded transfer that looks great, as a modern film should. Detail is sharp, colour palette is dynamic and vibrant, and the blacks are deep. There are no flaws in the transfer to speak of. Likewise, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English audio track is solid throughout, with dialogue front and centre. Surrounds and bass are used frequently throughout, with the soundtrack dominating when the characters aren't speaking. No distortion or other issues to be found in this one.

English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, as well as French Subtitles are also provided.

The lone extra on the disc is The Making Of Laid In America (58:24), an extensive look at the behind the scenes footage broken down to day by day. Everyone is on hand here...cast, crew, and the writers/directors to share their stories of making the movie, including the cost of blow-up dolls, how not to ride a segue, and how to improvise with location when you're on a budget. The cast also discuss their characters and motivations, and everyone seems to have a good time.

The Final Word:

Maybe I'm just an old man. But Laid In America is not a fun film, or a good film, and it doesn't deliver on the nudity like a good teen sex comedy should.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!