I’ve decided on occasion, I want to highlight movies and TV shows that make me happy. In this first post, I’ve decided to tackle Todd Phillip’s 2000 teen comedy masterpiece Road Trip.
Okay, so first things first, Todd Phillips, the director of Road Trip, also directed The Joker, which is pretty insane to think about when you watch both movies and see that they have absolutely nothing in common. Kudos to that guy.
Secondly, fork, this movie came out in 2000! It’s twenty years old! Since when did Road Trip turn twenty! I mean, heck, I still feel like Top Gun is twenty years old, but it’s actually closer to forty years old! Ughhhhh….. getting old sucks.
The perverted 90’s teen comedies of my youth are becoming forgotten in the days of political correctness. That kinda bums me out. I love the simple plot, absurd interactions, and just generic hijinks these crazy teens would get themselves into. I also adore the soundtracks, since they are filled with a nice mix of that late 90’s/early 2000’s pop punk and indie bands that just sing songs that make you feel good and you can bob your head to. Movies and life just seemed a little simpler and easier back then.
So, Road Trip has a very similar plot to the 1998 Paul Rudd/Reece Witherspoon comedy, Overnight Delivery. A guy hasn’t heard from his girlfriend in a few days and his insecurities lead him to believing that she’s cheating on him. He hooks up with a girl and a tape of their encounter accidently gets sent to his girlfriend, who was not actually cheating, but at home grieving over the death of her grandfather. Hijinks ensue as the boyfriend and his gang of idiot friends make their way from New York to Texas in time to stop the tape from getting delivered.
I haven’t watched Road Trip in quite a few years and I gotta say, it still holds up rather well. Tom Green is hilarious and all of the characters come across genuine, which is something that the bigger budget teen movies do a good job of usually. I really liked DJ Qualls character arc, since he actually did a bit of growing in this film. Sean William Scott played the same character as American Pie and I’m okay with that, it’s a darn good character.
A few things that stood out while watching the film that really took me back in time:
- the use of a cassette player
- a Nintendo 64 box sitting in the dorm room
- the lack of cell phones and texting
The success of Road Trip made the producers want to make a sequel, but they couldn’t come up with a plot that didn’t turn into American Pie so they scrapped the idea. In 2009, a direct-to-DVD sequel (with very loose ties to the original) was made called Road Trip: Beer Pong. I’m planning on watching that sometime in the near future and I’ll report back what I think about it. I’m usually a fan of these very forgettable direct-to-DVD teen flicks.
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