Road Trip

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate May 2001

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"Many funny moments, many gross moments, many flashes of breast and sexual situations"¦ the first good movie of the summer"(User Reviews, 2). Josh and Tiffany have been boyfriend and girlfriend ever since they were five years old. They are hitting their first challenge in their relationship"¦ college. They are going to two different schools, 1500 miles apart. Road Trip is a humours teenage movie about college students on a cross-country trip to intercept a sexually explicit home video before it falls into the heads of Tiffany.

"This is the setting for the greatest story ever told"(Road Trip, movie). The movie starts up in Ithaca, New York. The movie takes place during Josh's college years. All of Josh's friends love to hang out with each other. Josh's friend E.L. wants Josh to hock up with a girl named Beth. Josh does eventually gets together with her that's a night no man would forget.

Just to make sure that he doesn't forget it Beth records it. The next day josh acts all happy and the guys wonder why, well, he explains "I had the best time of my life last night twice and once this morning!"(Road Trip, movie) When the boys want proof and hits that they taped it, so to prove it they view the type. Although to Josh's surprise the type they are watching is the one he made for Tiffany. Rubin Josh's friend was supposed to send it out the day before but didn't and when he realized that he forgot grabbed the Beth type by accident. So the boys decided to take a road trip to retrieve the type before Tiffany sees it. They make three stops along the way, the first night they end up in a motel in the middle of no-where after their car blows up. The second stop is at a frat house. Rubin knew the securite hand shake so that means they get free food and bored, but the only problem is that Rubin was thinking ahead enough and they ended up in a all black fraternity. The third night they stayed at Barry's grandparents house. His grandparents are sweet but the grandparents are teenagers at heart. Well after ending up in Austin minutes before Tiffany gets there to get her mail. Although Tiffany sees Josh and wants to talk to him and they end up breaking up anyways. Although that's not where it ends because they end up having to get back to Ithaca in half the time it took them to get down there because Josh needs to get back for an examine that he thought he had an extension on. Well, Josh gets back in time and gets a B+ on his final and gets to stay in school. So everyone lives happily ever after.

Heading the young group of actors in Road Trip is Breckin Meyer, relatively a veteran of the group, he has appeared in such movies like Go a crime comedy and 54 about New York's Studio 54. Breckin was born in Minnesota and at age eleven moved to Los Angles. He has also stared on the hit TV show The Wonder Years. Breckin plays Josh an average college student fighting to get good grades so he can keep his sclarships but is also trying to have a good time so he remembers college. He has dated his best friend since they were five years old although when it came to picking colleges they ended up pick two that were fifteen hundred miles apart. Josh ends up chasing after his porno he made and on his trip he come to the realization that having a long-distance relationship is hard. Although he still likes Tiffany and stays bestfriends with her he ends up with Beth. Josh and Beth end up having a real good relationship with each other and made many more videos, which you can find on E-Bay.

Seann William Scott, who recently made his film debut in American Pie another teenage comedy, plays E.L. Josh's bestfriend back in Ithaca. Seann is also from Minnesota, he graduated early from high school so he could become an actor. Seann's character E.L. is basically your average jock, meaning he thinks with the wrong head. He basically goes "To take drugs, have fun, and take advantage of young beautiful women"(Road Trip, movie). E.L. thinks Josh should drop Tiffany and basically become a male hore. Seann adds so much to the humor in the movie by the way he over-reacts about things, his one-liners, and his facial expressions. He was perfect for the part.

The brains of the group come from Rubin, he's played by Paulo Castanzo who makes his film debut in Road Trip. Paulo is a native of Toronto where he did stage acting and has featured in the Bogeyman and in The Good Doctor. You can catch Paulo in another comedy, the just released Jossie and the Pussy Cats. The ironic thing about Paulo character Rubin is that Rubin is the one that accidentally mailed the video to Tiffany even though he's the brains of the group. Rubin is really a burn out that has a good taste in clothes. He has to smoke marijuana to stay claim because he has a phobia of death. He thinks he was put on earth for a reason and can't die until his destinany has been filled. At the end of the movie Rubin cross-pollinates a marijuana plant, the leave if smoked is undetectable by any tests given today.

Josh, E.L., and Rubin need to get to Austin, Texas some how, so in steps Kyle into the story. Kyle is played by D.J. Qualls who also made their film debut in Road Trip. D.J. grow up in a small town of Tennessee where he began acting in a local theatre. Although he is vary proud of his acting he is even prouder to say that he is a cancer survivor. D.J.'s character Kyle is a skinny little kid that won't stand up for himself, and did I mention that he has a car. The only problem he has with the guys taking the car is that he hasn't been able to tell his dad about all this. You see Kyle's dad is an over controlling moron that cant control his temper. Well on the trip they end up blowing up the car after an attempt to jump a bridge, they make it but like I said it blows up. Well, in the end of the movie Kyle finally stands up to his dad because the guys teach him that his dad doesn't to control his life.

Tom Green also makes his film debut in Road Trip as Barry an insecure person who has never left Ithaca. Tom is best known for the Tom Green Show, which is aired on MTV. Tom grow up in Ontario where also went to college and became a radio personality, that's where it all started. Tom's character Barry has attended Ithaca University for eight years. The movie starts out with him giving a tour of the school for orientation. The tour becomes lame so Barry begins to tell the about his friend Josh and his road trip with three other close friends. He narrates the movie although you only when the story isn't being told. Tom's bold acting abilities and the character Barry made a perfect match.

The reason the hole story takes place is because of two women Beth the one who likes to make sick types and Tiffany Josh's girlfriend since the age of five. Beth is played by Amy Smart best known for her role in Varsity Blues a movie about the pressures of high school sports, she played Mox's girlfriend. Beth and Josh share an attraction for one and other but Beth pursues it more because she has nothing to lose. In the part of Tiffany, Rachel Blanchard is best known for starring in the TV series Clueless. Tiffany is in the beginning of the movie is unreachable. Josh tries many times to get a hold of her but is unsuccessful and her roommate makes it sound like Tiffany is with another guy, so Josh thinks she blew him off. Well, after the night with Beth and after he figured out that he had sent the wrong type she called and left a message, her grandpa died. Well, like I said before all turns out well for the both of these two Beth gets Josh and Tiffany gets to see other guys that aren't fifteen hundred miles away.

Only one special effect in the movie and it's an explosion big surprise. The big explosion happened when the boys took a short cut. It was suppose to cut four hours off the trip but instead they drove up to a broken bridge. They decide to jump the bridge after Rubin convinces them that they can make it if they hit the incline at fifty mph. Before they could jump it they had to convince Kyle they would make it because Kyle is scared they wont. So E.L. demonstrates that he could spit across the gap, well he could spit across the gap but the other side of the bridge, which was still up ended up falling into the river. So as all the guys stand and take in what just happened, Rubin suggest that they hit the incline at seventy-five mph instead. Well, they do make it to the other side but when they stop and realize they made it, the wheels fall off, and when they get out and start walking to a pay phone the car explodes. It is one of the best scenes in the whole movie so don't forget it.

The music in the movie isn't really evident because you are so caught-up in the movie but when you what it as many times as I did is does fit well. The first sound that helps the movie is the University of Ithaca Alma Mater. The reason I think this helps the movie is it sets up the setting of the college. Although the ironic thing about this song is that no one is really shown in class accept for a few moments. On the movie that Josh had made for Tiffany, Josh sang a sound he wrote I Got a Girl. It is shown for only a few seconds but it shows that josh really cares for Tiffany. Another sound is The Salem Song which is song by Barry, this helps show that Barry is insane. In the movie there a lot more song, and all of them kind of have an ironic theme that goes along with the movie.

The camera footage in the movie was great, they made it seem like you where right there with them. A lot of the movie is shot on the road in a car or bus. The only thing that got me is you really couldn't tell what time of the day it was until they would make a pit stop. The Aerial shots really showed the beauty of the places they where at. They also did fly-byes of the schools witch showed the beauty of the buildings. The camera angles in this movie are o.k. nothing really to complain about.

The theme of this story is simple, if you make a mistake don't wiry because it my turn out for the better. There are some other little themes like having a long distance relationship is hard. The reason they are so hard is that you never get to see the person ever. Another is don't make home videos with other women and send them to your girlfriend. If I really had to explain the reason for that one, don't try having a relationship in the near future. The last one is you don't know what will happen on a road trip unless you plan ahead. So for god sakes plan ahead so you don't end up like these guys. The themes of this movie are pointless and should be taken lightly.

Road Trip is a great movie that I ink everyone should see once. I rate it up there with other great high school movies like Dazed and Confused and American Pie. ""¦The director and co-writer Todd Phillips understands that comedy needs to breath"(Time, 129) and Ebert said""¦there were several moments in the movie when I did indeed laugh"(SunTimes, 2). Every cast member where perfect for their part which made the movie more in joinable. I would suggest anybody looking for a great movie to rent to give Road Trip a shot.