Get your own Free Home Page
Spielberg’s supercompany Dreamworks had in a couple short years already made forays into nearly every genre: drama (American Beauty), animation (Antz and The Prince of Egypt), historical (Amistad), action (Saving Private Ryan), historical action (Gladiator), horror (The Haunting), comedy (Mouse Hunt), and sci-fi (Galaxy Quest). What they hadn’t attempted was going after the Gap crowd. So they figured it was a safe bet to hire Ivan Reitman, whose Animal House almost single-handedly made tastelessness a boomer staple 20 years ago, in order to pursue those tender GenY bucks. But our collective gorge threshold has risen considerably in a generation, requiring an outlook more in tune with There’s Something About Mary and American Pie than Reitman’s romp at Delta Tao Chi, which now looks almost quaintly reserved in comparison. So he lined up Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong, writer/directors of the well-reviewed but controversial HBO hazing documentary Frat House (remember, the one where it was later discovered some of the most outlandish episodes were staged at the filmmakers’ request?). The result is best summed up thusly: “the opportunities to drink, take drugs, and take advantage of young girls are getting smaller by the day.”
Starting out at the fictional University of Ithaca (motto: “What else are you gonna do, stay here and learn?”), Road Trip follows academically-challenged Josh (Breckin Meyer, from Go and 54) and his sideshow posse of barely post-adolescent males as they make a frantic weekend drive from upstate New York to Austin, Texas. Their mission: intercept a video, inadvertently mailed to Josh’s girlfriend Tiffany (Rachel Blanchard, who was Cher on the TV treatment of Clueless), which testifies graphically to his infidelity -- as in, he got taped boffing another babe. Armed with only the credit card and high-mileage Taurus (the car, not someone of the recent zodiacal sign) provided by overprotected, underfed Kyle (D. J. Qualls), the know-how of pot-head uberstudent Rubin (Paolo Costanzo), and hyper-hormonal bravado of E. L. (Sean William Scott, lending some of his vibe from American Pie), they head cross-country. Meanwhile, back at college, eighth-year undergrad Barry (Tom Green) awaits with unhealthy fixation the weekly feeding of roommate E.L.’s pet python.
Man, if stuff like this had happened when I was at Bob Jones University, I would have stayed another semester or two.
Road Trip is laden with gross-outs and random acts of irresponsibility ranging from stealing a bus from a school for the blind to lighting up with a horny grandfather. What it lacks is the charisma of someone like poor, departed, over-partied John Belushi to give it soul. If you’re a big Tom Green fan and expect, as the trailers lead to believe, that he’d get an opportunity to anchor this brouha, you may be disappointed, since he doesn’t do much besides narrate and -- pardon the expression -- tease the snake. It’s not the highest-quality trash, but if you’re in the mood for this sort of hit-and-miss, rabidly sophomoric stuff, be advised it falls squarely between …Mary, which was tastelessness of the most inspired nature, and A. Pie, which was not. C-
Get your own Free Home Page