Road Trip (film)

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For the 2008 film, see College Road Trip. For the 2013 television film, see A Mother's Rage.
"University of Ithaca" redirects here. For the real college, see Ithaca College.

Road Trip
Road Trip movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTodd Phillips
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Narrated byTom Green
CinematographyMark Irwin
Edited by
Music byMike Simpson
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • May 19, 2000 (2000-05-19)
Running time
94 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$16 million[4]
Box office$119.8 million[4]

Road Trip is a 2000 American road sex comedy film[5] directed by Todd Phillips and written by Scot Armstrong and Phillips. The film stars Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Paulo Costanzo, and DJ Qualls as four college friends who embark on an 1800-mile road trip to retrieve an illicit tape mistakenly mailed to a girlfriend.

Plot[]

Josh Parker and Tiffany Henderson were childhood friends, high school sweethearts, and try for a long-distance relationship as he goes to the University of Ithaca and she to the University of Austin. However, he gets nervous when he can't reach her, fearing infidelity. Even so, he regularly mails her video taped letters.

Josh asks his friend, Rubin, to mail his tape to Tiffany before leaving for class. Josh's Ancient Philosophy professor tells him he needs a B+ on his mid-term to pass the semester. Although still worrying about Tiffany, Josh's best friend E.L. convinces him to notice Beth Wagner is interested. Jacob, the Philosophy T.A., (obsessed with Beth) is hostile towards Josh. At E.L.'s party, he auctions off several women, including Beth. Scared of Jacob, she convinces Josh to outbid him. Then they escape to his room to have sex on his camcorder.

The next morning, Josh arrives to his room in a very good mood, confessing that he slept with Beth. When his friends play his tape they believe Rubin mailed the sex tape to Tiffany by accident, confusing it with the other. Josh then hears a voicemail from Tiffany saying that she hasn't called as her grandfather has died and she will be away from school until Monday.

With E.L. and Rubin, Josh asks Kyle to tag along on a road trip, as he needs his car. Kyle is a shy loner who lives in constant fear of his overly strict father, Earl Edwards, the car's owner. They head out to drive the 1,800 miles to Austin and back in three days, leaving their friend Barry to take care of Mitch, their snake.

After leaving the interstate in Bedford for what they thought was a "shortcut", they find a small bridge collapsed, realising they will waste five hours backtracking. E.L. and Rubin convince them to jump the gap. Kyle objects but they proceed. They make it across, but the car is wrecked. They continue on foot, stopping at a motel. Rubin tries to buy marijuana from the unsympathetic motel clerk, but is informed that Kyle's credit card is maxed out. Looking for transportation, E.L. persuades a blind woman, Brenda, at a school for the blind, into letting him take a bus for 'repairs', and they resume the journey.

Meanwhile, Kyle's father, Earl, discovers the card is maxed. Believing he's been kidnapped, Earl begins searching for Kyle when told by the police that the car was found wrecked and he is missing. They have a series of misadventures on the way: Kyle loses his virginity at a fraternity; two of them raise money making deposits at a sperm bank; and they visit Barry's grandparents. As Josh's books were destroyed in the car wreck, he calls his professor to ask for an extension on his midterm exam. Jacob answers the phone, impersonating the professor, and granting a fake extension.

While Barry feeds the snake, Beth comes looking for Josh; he tells her Josh has feelings for her. Jacob walks in, telling her Josh is about to fail Philosophy (as he was led to believe he could retake the exam). Mitch bites Barry's hand, causing a vicious struggle, ending with Mitch landing on Jacob, squeezing his neck until he loses consciousness.

Finally getting to Austin and Tiffany's dorm, Josh intercepts the tape, just as she arrives. Earl also bursts in, furious over the car and the credit card, threatening to drag Kyle back with him. Kyle finally stands up to him, stating that he is going back to school with his friends. Earl assaults him and a mini-riot ensues.

Josh and Tiffany retreat to talk, then Beth calls to warn him (he has 48 hours to get back to school or else he will fail his midterm, the course and possibly be kicked out of college --Jacob tricked him). While Josh talks on the phone, Tiffany starts to watch the tape, which luckily is nothing but Barry mooning the camera. She and Josh agree to break up, remaining friends. Then Josh and crew rush back, just in time to take his midterm – with a little help from Beth.

As Barry closes the movie by completing the visitors' tour, he confirms that: Josh passed the course; Josh and Beth are still together (happily making videos); Jacob eventually dies as result of leading a cult staging a mass suicide, in which no one but himself carried out; Rubin became a successful marijuana cultivator; and lastly relates humorous facts about E.L.'s and Kyle's futures. The credits roll while Barry dry humps a mother from the tour group, in the middle of campus.

Cast[]

Production[]

The fictional 'University of Ithaca' is based on both Ithaca College and Cornell University, each located in Ithaca, New York. Filming took place from October 16, 1999 to December 27, 1999 on the campuses of Woodward Academy, Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia.[6][7] The university seen in a flyover in the opening scene is actually Harvard University; the same footage was later used in the film Old School in 2003. The diner scene was shot in Lawrenceville, Georgia at the Gwinnett Diner, as it says on the coffee mugs. One of the final scenes of the tour was filmed at Founders Park at the University of Southern California.

Release[]

Critical reception[]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 58% based on 92 reviews. The consensus is: "Some humor is hit or miss, depending on the audience tastes, but the movie is funny overall. Mixed reviews for the cast, especially for MTV's Tom Green."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]

At the 2000 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Green won both Worst Supporting Actor and Most Unfunny Comic Relief for his role in both this film and Charlie's Angels. The film itself also received a nomination for Oldest Looking Teenagers but lost to Remember the Titans.[10]

Box office[]

The film opened on May 19, 2000, alongside Dinosaur and Small Time Crooks; it was at No. 3 at the North American box office, making US$15,484,004, in its opening weekend.[4]

Sequel[]

Main article: Road Trip: Beer Pong

A direct-to-video sequel entitled Beer Pong was released on August 11, 2009, this time by Paramount Famous Productions as Paramount Pictures had acquired DreamWorks' back catalog in its (since undone) 2006 purchase of the company.[11] Only two of the original cast or crew appear in the sequel film, DJ Qualls as Kyle Edwards and Rhoda Griffis as Tour Group Mom.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Fernandex, Jay A. (February 18, 2009). "Montecito digs in at Paramount". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Road Trip (2000)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  3. ^ "ROAD TRIP (15)". British Board of Film Classification. June 1, 2000. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Road Trip (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  5. ^ Eraso, Carmen Indurain (2015). "The Transnational Dimension of Contemporary Spanish Road Movies". Global Genres, Local Films: The Transnational Dimension of Spanish Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 114. ISBN 9781501302992. Films like Todd Phillips's Road Trip (2000) use the road movie genre as a narrative framework for the kind of gross-out sex comedy of the late 1970s and early 1980s ...
  6. ^ "Filming locations for Road Trip (2000)". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
  7. ^ "Top 5 Colleges Used in Feature Films". About.com: College Life. Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
  8. ^ Road Trip at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2012-07-02.
  9. ^ "Road Trip". Metacritic. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  10. ^ "Past Winners Database". The Envelope at LA Times. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  11. ^ Trailer for Road Trip II: Beer Pong Arrives Archived June 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

External links[]

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