johnlink ranks ROAD TRIP (2000)
After AMERICAN PIE found great success, dozens of clones came out. Most of them sucked, but a couple were okay. The best of the bunch was ROAD TRIP. I know that isn’t a hugely ringing endorsement, but it’s also not meant to knock the film down too far either.
A young man films a tryst he has with a college girl in Ithica and accidentally mails it to his girlfriend in Austin. It is Friday. The mail arrives Monday. Only one way to stop it from getting to her. ROAD TRIP.
I watched ROAD TRIP (2000) on 3.31.09. It was my fourth or fifth viewing of the film, but the first time I’d seen it since college.
NOTE: THIS RANKING UTILIZES THIS SITE’S ORIGINAL SYSTEMIC ARTICLE WRITING METHOD. THE METHOD BY WHICH THE RANKINGS WERE ARRIVED AT, HOWEVER, REMAINS THE SAME.
FILM
This movie has a bigger heart than most of its ilk. But it also has enough sex jokes and boob gags to last three or four films. Not high art by any means, but not an embarrassment either. SCORE: 4
MOVIE
Even though I’ve seen it a few times, there are still a handful of scenes that make me laugh out loud in a quiet room while watching the movie by myself. One is the car jumping scene. One is the black fraternity scene and the last is the climatic fight scene (though it gets silly quickly). Plus, I like these characters. Usually I loathe the heroes in these kinds of films. SCORE: 7
ACTING
Part of the reason this movie is fun is that it gets charismatic performances from some minor stars. I love Amy Smart in this movie. She is so damn cute. Breckin Meyer is a pretty good straight man; I wish he was in more. Stifler does his thing. Tom Green, surprisingly, is not overbearing in this movie. It has just the right amount of him. All in all, the lead foursome does a good job together, and I enjoy watching them play. SCORE: 5
WRITING
This movie has one of the best “Oh Shit” moments of any comedy I can remember. In film, the “Oh Shit” moment is the point in the end of the first act when something happens to propel the action for the rest of the movie. In ROAD TRIP, it is the moment when Breckin Meyer realizes that the wrong tape got sent to his girlfriend. Funny, funny scene. The rest of the writing is pretty good too. I like the jokes in this film. I will admit freely that, had I not seen it in high school, I might not find it as funny. I see a lot of the sophomoric comedies now and think they are just idiotic (MISS MARCH comes to mind… that was in theaters last month. I saw about five minutes and wanted to rid my head off my brain immediately). ROAD TRIP is just one of those that I saw at the right time in my life, and I’d be happy to see it anytime someone suggested it. But, as the scores here suggest, I know it is not exactly a comedy classic. SCORE: 6
FINAL TALLY
FILM: 4; MOVIE: 7; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 6
4+7+5+6+0=22
FINAL SCORE: 5.5
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