Road Trip - Unseen And Explicit DVD > Reviews > Oh God We Laughed

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Good acting, some cracking jokes .
Disadvantages:	The lack of Tom Green, he should have gone with them .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Road Trip (15)

Directed By:- Todd Phillips
Produced By:- Ivan Reitman
Starring:- Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Rachel Blanchard and Tom Green

The first thing that I was told about this film is that it is very similar to American Pie. Basically I got the impression that if you like American Pie then you will like this. I cannot see the similarities myself unless you count Seann William Scott who has appeared in both movies. Yes, the film is a type of "rites of passage" movie but that is where you can draw the line. Two totally different storylines, two different sets of characters and more importantly, in my view, two different levels of comedy.

I won't say that I didn't like American Pie, and I wouldn't say that either film is better than the other. I would however, say that both films have that method of cringiness that we have come to get used to in the comedy film world these days. Certain people I know have said that they enjoyed the films until they reached the relatively "sick" parts of the film. With this I mean the "apple pie" scene in American Pie and the "milking the prostate" scene in this film. I personally was able to put up with both scenes due to the amount of films I have watched recently with those type of comedy sketches.

Anyway, down to the basic storyline.

The film starts with Barry Manilow (Tom Green, MTV) explaining the traditions of Ithaca University to a bunch of "hopeful", future students. Lets just say that Barry has his own way of explaining things and he doesn't really sell the university to the group. He proceeds by saying that the university is the setting for the greatest story ever told. It goes pretty much as follows.

Josh (Breckin Meyer) and Tiffany (Rachel Blanchard, Clueless) have basically known each other since they were young children. They grew up together, shared everything and when the time came to move to university, they realised that Josh would be going to Ithaca and Tiffany would be attending Austin, Texas. They did however, make a pact to stay true to each other and call each other every day that they would be apart.

After a few weeks apart Josh starts to get worried when Tiffany doesn't ring for a few days. In steps E.L (Seann William Scott) with the sound advice that the window of opportunity to do drugs and meet beautiful women is getting smaller by the day. Josh is not really impressed by this statement as pressure is also building on him to pass his exams so he can re-attend Ithaca in the next semester. A big point that E.L tries to put across is that a girl named Beth (Amy Smart) has got a very big interest in Josh and that he should not pass up this opportunity.

That night E.L stages a party in which he is holding a "chicks for sale" night. This is where you bid in an auction and the winner gets to buy the company of the girl for the night. Beth is one of these girls and when she realises that a guy named Jacob is there she asks Josh to outbid him. Jacob is a obsessive school geek who seems to think that he had a past with Beth and won't take no for an answer. As you would imagine, Josh wins the auction, partly due to some brilliant rule changes by E.L and proceeds to spend a night of company with Beth.

As the night wears on Josh and Beth begin to become closer to one another and eventually retire to
Josh's dormitory. Beth realises that Josh has a video camera (which he has been using to record a tape for Tiffany) and proceeds to ask that they be filmed together. Josh reluctantly agrees and they enjoy a night of filmed passion.

The next morning Josh asks his roommate Reuben (where was he when they were at it?) if he has posted the tape he made to Tiffany and Reuben replies that he posted it that morning. This is the obvious bit, he has posted the Beth tape to Tiffany. Just at that minute the phone rings and over the answerphone Tiffany announces that there has been a loss in the family and that she will be spending 3 days with her mother. This gives Josh that time to make it 1800 miles to Austin to retrieve the tape before Tiffany returns. The main stumbling block is that he hasn't got no money for a plane ticket so he goes and enlists the help of a student named Kyle. He wants to borrow his car and Kyle eventually agrees. He agrees to come along on the "Road Trip" along with Josh, E.L and Reuben.

I will leave it there for the story as I feel that I may be giving too much away but what I have explained needs to be watched as it is very funny indeed. I think that most characters play there parts very well although I was a bit disappointed that Tom Green didn't feature in the film a bit more. Even so, the part he played was very, very impressive. Very, very funny.

I recommend this film to be watched by all age groups. I know that it has a "15" certificate but there are films with more swearing and nudity out there with lesser certificates. I couldn't really find much in the film that would really affect young teenagers.

All in all, as I said at the top, the similarites are few and far between with American Pie but if you liked that film then you should like this one also.