Road Trip



Born in the white-hot fury of the late-90s, early 2000s teen-sex-comedy boom, Road Trip is the story of young Josh Parker and the consequences of one night's craziness. Josh's long-term, long-distance girlfriend Tiffany has got silent on him, and so, believing she is dumping him, he accepts the advances of the beautiful Beth Wagner. The next morning, after Beth has left, Josh's friends E.L., Rubin Carver and Barry Manilow (not that Barry Manilow) come to investigate. Josh reveals that Beth videotaped their amorous adventures, evidence that his friends demand to see. Of course, the tape sitting on the TV is the one Josh recorded for Tiffany - the "Beth tape" is in an envelope winging its way to Austin, Texas. Right as this realisation sinks in, the phone rings - it's Tiffany, apologising for not answering Josh's calls, as her beloved grandfather just died suddenly. Josh realises there's only one option - get to Austin before the envelope and prevent Tiffany from ever seeing it.

Thus begins the wacky adventures of Josh, E.L., Rubin and Kyle - the one who actually owns the car - as they travel 1800 miles to try and save Josh's relationship. A quest that will take them through jumping broken bridges in a Ford Taurus, pretending to be members of a national black fraternity, stealing a school bus from a blind chick and discovering why you shouldn't send food back at greasy-spoon diners.


 * All Men Are Perverts: Mentioned in the Shower Scene by a topless woman.
 * All-Star Cast
 * Ass Shove: Happens to E.L. at the sperm bank when he asks the nurse for "assistance". It does provide him with the best orgasm he's ever had. This is even given a Call Back at the end of the movie when he's bent over again, this time asking for three fingers.
 * Bachelor Auction: One of the extremely rare bachelorette versions, although the auctioneer is careful to point out that purchasing the woman in question in no way confers any suggestion that sex will result.
 * BBW: The aptly-named Big Rhonda is portrayed by a real-life plus size model.
 * Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Rubin and E.L. list off reasons in an attempt to justify Josh's cheating on Tiffany. And then comes Kyle's turn...
 * Butt Monkey: Poor Kyle.
 * Catapult Nightmare: Josh has one when staying at the Manilows'. He has a second one in a deleted extension of that scene.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Barry. Witness both The Feeding and the Animal Song. Plus, of course, the Running Gag of "Austin... Massachusetts?"
 * Cool Old Guy: Grandpa Manilow
 * A Date with Rosie Palms: Purely for the purpose of selling the results for gas money.
 * Don't Try This At Home: Even if the Taurus hadn't mysteriously exploded, the impact would almost certainly have destroyed the chassis and suspension.
 * Erudite Stoner: Rubin smokes pot regularly, but is neither brain-fried nor paranoid. In fact, he is intelligent, polite and clean-cut. Erudite, to the point of being able to bluff his way into the Xi Chi frat house - despite it being a national black fraternity.
 * Every Car Is a Pinto: Jumping a broken bridge with a Ford Taurus, the group is dismayed when the wheels fall off. They start to hike to find help - when the car explodes.
 * Fan Service: An unusual Leaning on the Fourth Wall variety. See Shower Scene.
 * And, of course, Amy Smart topless.
 * Following the Leader: A strange example - this film came only two years after Overnight Delivery and has an very similar plot, but Overnight Delivery was a direct-to-video release, hardly a big success. If there were a little less space between them it would be Dueling Movies.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble
 * Josh is sanguine
 * E.L. is choleric
 * Kyle is melancholic
 * Rubin is phlegmatic
 * The Grunting Orgasm: E.L. during a... special medical inspection.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Josh and Beth are a couple in Rat Race, and Stifler is here too.
 * Male Gaze: During the Shower Scene, a woman is explaining how All Men Are Perverts. As she continues the explaination the camera zooms in on her breasts, until they're all we can see. When another girl picks up the thread of her complaints, the camera pans over to her - still with an extremely tight focus on her breasts.
 * Moral Event Horizon: Jacob was merely a creepy God-botherer until he pretended to be Josh's professor on the phone and tricked him into thinking he had an extension on the crucial midterm.
 * Nipple-and-Dimed: Boobs!
 * Long-Distance Relationship: Josh and Tiffany have one.
 * Papa Wolf: Kyle's insanely strict father takes this one a bit too far.
 * The Quest
 * Road Movie: Unsurprisingly.
 * Sex as Rite-of-Passage: Kyle experiences this after scoring with Rhonda. It allows him to stand up to his father.
 * Shower Scene: Described by one of the characters and shown to the viewer - put on pause when an actual woman questioned it, the question is Hand Waved and we return to naked goodness.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Jacob is a very creepy example of this when it comes to Beth.
 * Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Kyle and Rhonda.
 * Unfortunate Names: Barry's last name is revealed about halfway through to be "Manilow".
 * Unrated Edition: Minor changes, mostly the extension of the Shower Scene.
 * Unreliable Narrator: The main story is told through the eyes of Barry, a campus tour guide who's not playing with a full deck. As such, the story has some highly improbable elements.
 * Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: The boys of Xi Chi plant a Klan hood on Kyle, accusing him of bigotry. When Kyle faints in terror, the boys reveal it to be a prank and a loud party ensues.
 * Wafer-Thin Mint: Scott's character demonstrates he can spit across a ten-foot wide broken bridge. He did, but causing the other end of the bridge to collapse from his spit.
 * Wild Teen Party: A relatively mild example near the beginning, with a good-natured "girl auction" taking place in the front room and an least one group upstairs experimenting with lesbianism and group sex.
 * You Have Waited Long Enough: E.L. does this on Josh, directing him to Beth.