3086. Road Trip (2000)

Starring: Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Paulo Costanzo

Director: Todd Phillips

Running Time: 93 mins

Road Trip is an American film about a group of college friends who set out on a road trip after one of their number accidentally sends his girlfriend a videotape he’d rather she not see.

What’s so frustrating about these raunchy teen movies is that they can be really good. Although perhaps more guilty pleasures than genuine masterpieces, the likes of EuroTrip and Get Over It are hugely enjoyable, fun-loving movies, yet Road Trip is anything but.

Although fairly well-meaning and never genuinely infuriating, the film is a disappointingly dull affair throughout, lacking the chaotic energy of the best in its genre. Couple that with a less-than-stellar leading cast, and Road Trip ends up a really rather disappointing watch.

Of course, the main purpose of a movie like this is to make you laugh, but it really doesn’t manage even that. With the exception of a couple of funny side stories following Tom Green’s weird character, there isn’t much to laugh at in the film’s main plot, and the vast majority of its jokes really fall flat.

Again, it’s not an irritating and incessantly vulgar comedy like American Pie, but Road Trip just isn’t that funny at any point, and with so little genuine story in play as well, there isn’t that much there to really keep you interested.

With faster pacing, more energetic performances and a lot more frenzy and chaos, this could have been a genuinely hilarious and really fun movie to watch. In the end, however, it’s a forgettable and generally unfunny teen comedy, so that’s why I’m giving Road Trip a 5.9 overall.