Road Trip (2000)
★★★★ — Road Trip (2000)
Road Trip arrived in the summer of 2000 as part of a modest wave of raucous campus comedies riding the coattails of American Pie (1999), with DreamWorks backing what was a reasonably low-risk, mid-budget production at $16 million. It was the feature debut of Todd Phillips, who had previously made the documentary Frat House (1998) for HBO, and who would go on to direct Old School (2003) and, much later, Joker (2019). The film gave Seann William Scott one of his earliest prominent roles, coming off his breakout in American Pie the year before, and it marked one of Breckin Meyer's few leading-man outings. Shot largely on location in Georgia standing in for various American campuses, it grossed nearly $120 million worldwide against that modest budget.
The "tiny salmon swimming in the stream" scene I still sing regularly for no apparent reason. This movie hit me exactly at the right age (I was 11 or 12 when it came out) and it was absolutely within my sense of humour at that age. Looking back now? Yeah, it’s dumb. Really dumb. But it’s also brilliantly dumb. And hilarious. It’s one of those comedies that feels like it was made for kids who grew up on gross-out gags, prank calls, and MTV stunts, and somehow it all got turned into a studio film. The cast is gold: DJ Qualls is the heart of the movie, Tom Green is doing full absurdist comedy wizardry, and everyone else just rolls with it. The plot is paper-thin (lose a videotape, drive across country, chaos ensues), but it doesn’t matter. It’s pure early-2000s teen comedy bliss. Of course, by classic cinematic standards, it’s not great. The script’s patchy, the acting veers from solid to “what is he doing,” and the cinematography could’ve been shot on my cousin’s camcorder. But none of that ruins it for me, because what it lacks in polish, it makes up for in charm, nostalgia, and sheer entertainment value. They really don’t make movies like this anymore (and honestly, they probably wouldn't get away with it anyway).
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 2000 | Watched: 2025-05-16
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Todd Phillips: Old School (2003) · Joker (2019)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
