Josh Parker (Breckin Meyer) and his girlfriend Tiffany Henderson (Rachel Blanchard) have been together since they were kids, now at different colleges they’re experiencing a long distance relationship and cracks are starting to show; Tiffany isn’t calling Josh back, which neurotic Josh takes as a signal that she’s cheating on him, so what does he do? He cheats on her!

Josh sleeps with Beth (Amy Smart), a girl who every guy in college wants, Amy is very sexually experienced and suggests to Josh that it would be good if they filmed themselves having sex. Josh agrees after being seduced and they film themselves doing the deed. Josh wakes up feeling guilty but feeling safe in the knowledge that Tiffany will never find out however when he realises that the tape that was supposed to be sent to Tiffany was infact the sex tape, Josh panics and decides that he and his friends must go on a road trip to Tiffany’s college to retrieve the tape before she sees it, you just know that four college guys are going to get into bundles of trouble along the way…

This film came out in 2000 when these teen gross out comedies were all the rage, other films like American Pie and Scary Movie were in high demand at the time and Road Trip fits neatly into this category of very crude yet very funny teen comedy. I was at school when this came out and back then, if you hadn’t seen it you weren’t considered cool so I made it my mission to watch it with some friends and since then have seen it more times than I care to remember. This film brings back fond memories for me and is without doubt one of my guilty pleasures that was cool to like 9 years ago but these days could be considered as a bit sad to still watch it on occasions. In my opinion it isn’t as good as American Pie, for me American Pie will always be the ultimate teen comedy however Road Trip trails closely behind in terms of rude gags and sheer entertainment.

Seann William Scott is one of those rare actors that has made the transition from teen movie to star to adult comedy star. I loved him in all his earlier roles (American Pie, Final Destination and Dude Where’s My Car) however in the last couple of years he’s lost his appeal with me a little. He was perfect for teen comedies, with an unrivalled dexterity for playing the good looking school jerk who everybody loves to hate however I don’t think his brand of comedy value works in his more mature comedy films which is a shame because he was always the stand out actor in all his teen roles. In Road Trip he plays E.L, again playing to his strengths of the sex crazed teen who will do anything to impress his friends, including attempting to jump a 10 foot gap in a very dated car. He’s definitely the highlight of the film however he doesn’t find his element until around the half way point of the film when he visits the school for blind people or goes into the nurses office for ‘that’ procedure. E.L is funny throughout the film and definitely the best character however his dumb jock routine can sometimes become tiresome and that’s when the other three characters can be relied on for a lot of laughs.

DJ Qualls takes on the role of Kyle Edwards, the school geek who desperately wants to fit in with the cool guys yet doesn’t want to disappoint his strict Father by disobeying him. His character develops a lot over the course of the trip and he was also one of my favourite characters, the audience really feels for him and the situations he gets into especially the scene with his Father which was very funny yet was also the most meaningful scenes in the film and with that scene it almost crosses over to a drama film however it’s dragged back into the comedy drama with the situation they’re in during the scene.

Then there’s Rubin Carver played by Paulo Costanzo who’s the genius with a class B drug habit, the only other thing I’ve seen him in is Joey which was a bit of a disaster so it’s nice to see him at his best in this film with his dead pan face and fact filled brain that makes for some great underrated comedy moments. He’s one of the more relaxed characters with the more subtle comedy therefore enabling Seann William Scott and DJ Qualls to take centre stage and ultimately steel the show however I think it’s Ruben that comes out with some of the best one liners in the film.

Of course there’s the main character Josh who the film is centred around, he takes more of a backseat during the film though which I thought was strange seeing as the film is based around his relationship with Tiffany. His acting is pretty much faultless though as he really gets the audience on side and feeling sorry for him with his vulnerability and shyness with girls even after the situation with Beth. Amy Smart does reasonably well in her role as Beth however it feels as though she was just cast because of her looks and at the end of the day is forgettable and expendable.

The downside to this film for me would be Tom Green, the only other film I’ve seen him in is Charlie’s Angels where he played the infuriating ‘The Chad’ and his character is exactly the same in this film. He basically plays an absolute idiot who for the majority of the film is either set on killing a snake or narrating the story of the road trip to some potential college students. I did however find the way that he’s telling the story a nice touch to the film though and there was one hilarious scene involving his character and the snake which gets me laughing everytime.

The film moves along at a fast pace, throughout the trip the lads stop off at numerous destinations for a number of wild and wacky reasons, some can be seen as a little risky, a scene involving blind people and another with the KKK is a little risky but it never goes too far. The stops that they make are never dragged out for too long thankfully, making it exciting for the viewer to see what kind of trouble the gang get into next.

Sometimes I don’t like this kind of comedy, these days I don’t tend to watch these kinds of films as I find the jokes to be futile and childish however Road Trip is something that I still find funny 9 years after it’s initial release which is a big achievement. This definitely isn’t a movie for everyone though, if you’re familiar with Seann William Scott and his type of comedy then it’s an indication of what you’ll see in this film and if you’re not a fan of his then this definitely isn’t a film for you. It’s more aimed at a younger generation, mainly teenagers but luckily it’s not too gender orientated. Obviously the main characters are all lads but it’s not the type of comedy that alienates girls and uses sexist jokes so it’s without doubt a film that females can enjoy too.

The DVD is currently available from play.com for £3.99.

The special features include:
Theatrical Trailers
"Road Kill" - 7 Deleted Scenes
The Eels Music Video "Mr E's Beautiful Blues"
Behind-the-scenes featurette hosted by Tom Green