Road Trip (2000)
The Cast
Breckin Meyer .... Josh Parker
Seann William Scott .... E.L.
Amy Smart .... Beth Wagner
Paulo Costanzo .... Rubin Carver
DJ Qualls .... Kyle Edwards
Tom Green .... Barry Manilow
Rachel Blanchard .... Tiffany Henderson
Anthony Rapp .... Jacob
Fred Ward .... Earl Edwards
Andy Dick .... Motel Clerk
Ethan Suplee .... Ed
Horatio Sanz .... French Toast Guy
Marla Sucharetza .... Sperm Bank Nurse
Jessica Cauffiel .... The Wrong Tiffany
Wendell B. Harris Jr. .... Professor Anderson
Mary Lynn Rajskub .... Blind Brenda
Jimmy Kimmel .... Corky the Dog (voice)
Todd Phillips .... Foot Lover on Bus
Ahh the year 2000. Y2K was a memorable time for all of us, a relatively innocent time lo those six years ago. Think about it, take yourself back. Can you remember a time when there was no possible way DJ Qualls could be in a movie you're watching? Do you remember when Ethan Suplee wasn't just fat, but fucking fat? A time when Mary Lynn Rajskub was playing bit parts in R-rated teen comedies (explain that marketing to me) rather than being a chemically imbalanced member of CTU? Do you remember when Tom Green was the height of shock cool?
Directed and co-written by Starsky & Hutch's Todd Phillips, Road Trip chronicles exactly that, a road trip across the U.S. of A by four college students. It's not just a random road trip though, as the dumbest one of them all, Josh (Meyer) is out to retrieve a videotape of himself having sex with Beth (Smart) that was accidentally mailed to his long distance girlfriend and childhood sweetheart Rachel (Henderson). That's not really "OMG spoilerz!!" or anything, because apparently it's not a real road trip unless there's something zany going on.
Anyways, Josh is joined on the trip by horndog buddy E.L (Scott), pothead genius Rubin (Costanzo) and the guy they practically steal the car from, Kyle (Qualls), leaving the borderline psychotic Barry (Green) back on the campus to watch over Rubin's snake. If this all sounds just a little complicated, trust me, it's really not. It's absurdly ricockulous, completely unoriginal, and for some odd reason, very entertaining and highly watchable. This refers to the whole movie of course, and not just Amy Smart's nude scene (easily Googled by the way).
I credit both the cast and the director for making something fresh out of a tried and true and tired formula. Seann William Scott and Paulo Costanzo are the MVPs of this movie, making even some of the more predictable scenes entertaining. There's nothing jaw-droppingly excellent about the movie, it's just a fun movie to watch. It won't change your life, it won't really give you anything to take out of it, mull over and make your own conclusions. It's an attempt at Animal House for a new millenium, a couple years before Old School (also directed by Phillips) did it just a little bit better.
3.5 / 5