Eurotrip

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

One of the last teen sex comedies to come from the late 1990s, early 2000s boom. Scotty gets dumped by his girlfriend on graduation. He then goes on a trip to Berlin to meet his German pen pal Mi(e)ke (pronounced Mee-kah, a German feminine name nach Deutschland) and declare his everlasting love for her. He is accompanied by his sassy friend Cooper and "worst twins ever" Jenny and Jamie. There are many wacky cameos, including Matt Damon, Vinnie Jones, Lucy Lawless, Fred Armisen, Steve Hytner and the two stars of Absolutely Fabulous. Also starring Michelle Trachtenberg.

Eurotrip breaks the mold of many teen comedies, in that it never actually crosses the line from 'kind of goofy' to 'gross slapstick', and actually succeeds in inserting a bit of warmth and heart into the story.

It was filmed entirely in Prague.

Tropes used in Eurotrip include:
  • All Germans Are Nazis: Well, the Aryan 5-year-olds are.
  • Amusing Injuries: Cooper getting brutally sodomized and having his testicles electrocuted. If this weren't a comedy, he'd probably be traumatized for life.
  • Artistic License Linguistics: The unpronounceable safeword is clearly in some kind of Scandinavian language, complete with umlauts and severals "ø"s and "å"s. Club Vandersexx is in Amsterdam, where the primary language is Dutch.
    • The linguistic joke goes a bit further: Included in the word's nonsensical orthography are "β", "ð", and "€" (the euro sign).
  • Astronomical Exchange Rate: The crew winds up in a nasty part of Eastern Europe, stranded, wallets missing, and with only $1.83 between them. They live like kings.
    • And when they tip a hotel steward a nickel, he gleefully announces that he'll now be able to open his own hotel.
  • Big No: When Scotty finds out Mieke is a girl.
  • Bondage Is Bad: Club Vandersexx personifies this trope. Anybody familiar with BDSM knows that it doesn't work like that at all. BDSM establishments always clearly advertise themselves as such, and sessions always start with a domme interviewing her client to find out his likes, dislikes, and pain tolerance. And even the most hardcore dommes would balk at electrifying a client's testicles. Club Vandersexx comes off less like an S&M joint and more like a torture lair that poses as a sex club to lure victims.
  • Break the Cutie: When Mieke reads Scotty's e-mail, she seems genuinely upset and hurt.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: While peeking through the bushes at the topless women in the hot tub at the post-graduation party, Cooper comments, "Well there's your R-rating right there", at which point the scene cuts to a clear shot of one of the aforementioned women.
  • Brick Joke: A failed example. Cooper says that in Europe, they have "...lesbians with dildos in orange juice commercials." However, this line was deleted, so when Cooper sees an orange juice commercial that does in-fact have lesbians with dildos, it comes off more as a Non Sequitur Scene.
    • The joke's back, in the PPV cable and unrated versions.
  • Britain Is Only London: Played straight and subverted. London is the only part of Britain that the characters visit, but a big part of that scene involves them hanging out with a Manchester United fan club (which you aren't that likely to find in London[1]), so...
  • British Footy Teams
  • British Pubs
  • California Doubling: Being filmed in Prague, it kinda explains why we can see the Coliseum from the Vatican (which is impossible in real life).
  • The Cameo: Quite a few, most notably Matt Damon and an uncredited Jeffrey Tambor (they were filming The Brothers Grimm and Hellboy in Prague at the time).
  • Chekhov's Gun: Jamie's Leica M7 camera. Near the end, he sells it so Scotty can afford to travel to Vatican City to meet Mieke.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The Football Hooligans and in a deleted scene the Italian tourist.
  • Coincidental Accidental Disguise: The Pope Scene
  • Coitus Uninterruptus
  • Covers Always Lie: See that hot blonde girl on the page image? That's Mieke, the girl who kicks off the plot of the movie, and who doesn't actually appear until around the last fifteen minutes.
    • Not So Fast, there! The morning after Scotty sends the e-mail, there's a cutaway scene in Berlin, where we actually DO get to see Mieke - and she blocks Scotty's e-mail address.
    • There's also Scotty's nightmare where Mieke has sex with another man.
    • AND the fantasy sequence where they have sexy times to the vocal stylings of David Hasselhoff.
  • Cymbal-Banging Monkey: Either the most horrific or most hilarious use of one ever.
  • The Danza: Scott "Scotty" Thomas is played by Scott Mechlowicz.
  • Dawson Casting: of the 4 main actors only Michelle Trachtenberg was still a teenager even Kristin Kreuk was in her 20's playing 16-17 year old. even Jessica Boehrs who played Mieke was in her 20's
  • Did Not Do the Research: People are not permitted to wear either shorts or skirts above the knees inside Vatican City.
    • Apparently there is no drinking age in England.
      • That's not so bad, since neither of the two characters who say that are all that bright and the drinking age in England is 18, so the characters would be able to drink.
    • The reign of Roman Emperor Constantine is said to be in the fifth century by one character. It was in the fourth.
    • The map displays Ireland as being part of the United Kingdom, when its actually an independent state.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: The alternative ending shows Mieke rejecting Scott, asking "Did you expect me to suddenly fall in love with you"?. Fortunately for everyone, it was changed into a Happy Ending instead.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Jamie gets robbed at knife-point in Amsterdam, but he's too busy getting a blowjob from a local girl to put up much of a fight.
  • Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): The Club Vandersexx scene again. Arguably justified, since it's an S&M club where guys normally pay for that kind of thing, but still...
  • Dramatic Slip: Subverted. One of them falls, says "Go on without me!".... and then, when he realizes nobody's helping him, gets up again and keeps running.
  • Ear Worm/Running Gag: Even in-universe.

SCOTTY DOESN'T KNOW!

  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Scotty goes through many hardships in Europe, but at the end, he does get the girl. It also applies to his friends too: Jamie gets a job in Europe as a tour guide, while both Cooper and Jenny have European sex. With each other.
  • Europeans Are Kinky
  • The Eternal City
  • Fan Disservice: The characters go to a nude beach, expecting to see beautiful naked women. They find hundreds of flabby, ugly male tourists who went to look for beautiful women too (it seems the actual beautiful women only go to the beach when the tourists aren't around).
    • Even better: The beautiful women actually hang out around a local landmark that tourists usually avoid due to it being "boring", and that one of the main characters had initially suggested visiting, only to be ignored.
  • Fan Service: Michelle Trachtenberg has definitely grown into her looks (the first time we see her she's bending over in tight jeans), but it takes a long time for the other characters to realise. Even after she flashes passing drivers in a bid to get them a ride (it doesn't work - see also Show Some Leg below). And then, of course, there's the girl in the hot tub.
  • Football Hooligans: Led by Vinnie Jones.
  • Freestate Amsterdam / Marijuana Is LSD: Played straight and subverted: The brownies contain no marijuana, they were just hyperventilating.
  • Fridge Horror: When Cooper first walks into Club Vandersexx, the Dominatrix acknowledges the fact that he's American. If she's well aware that he's an American, she must have known that he wouldn't be able to pronounce the safeword that she wrote down. And as pointed out above, the safeword is written in some weird Scandinavian tongue that isn't even spoken in Amsterdam. So when she does the whole "session" with him, she's not providing the usual services that she would to a customer...she's just torturing Cooper for the hell of it and taunting him with the fact that he can't make her stop.
    • Not exactly fridge here, since her expression gives off that she's clearly indulging in & enjoying torturing the ignorant American.
  • Fridge Logic: Was there something stopping Scotty from setting up a new email address and saying he was drunk?
    • Clearly the movie is set in a world where a person has only one email address, given at birth, and can't even use it to pass on a message from someone else. Or Mieke is blocking all mail from unknown senders. Or Scotty is just that stupid (his love for gimmicky GIFs and ditto email programs as well as using a paper dictionary does suggest he's rather tech unsavvy).
    • I thought that but in a re-watch I got the impression that Mieke blocked her own address.
  • Funny Money
  • Fun with Foreign Languages: It basically drives the plot.
  • Gay Paree
  • Gender Blender Name: Is a plot point. Scotty doesn't understand that Mieke is a girl's name in Germany and presumes the penpal he's been emailing for months is a guy named Mike. Thus when "Mike" offers to meet with Scotty in person in response to hearing about his break-up, Scotty thinks he's a sexual predator. Once he finds out the truth, she's blocked his email, so he sets off to Europe to make things right.
  • Gone Horribly Right/Wrong: Cooper's visit to Vandersexxx club. It's difficult to tell which, but he definitely didn't have fun.
  • Hilarious Outtakes
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: See Lana Lang as an upfront two-timing slut. Buffy's little sister is also in this movie. To say nothing of Jason Bourne as a musician (responsible for belting out "Scotty Doesn't Know"), and Xena, Warrior Princess as a Dutch dominatrix.
  • In Vino Veritas: The Twins when they visit the bar in Bratislava -- leads to Kissing Under the Influence and Twincest.
  • Intoxication Ensues
  • It's Not You, It's Me: Although, seconds later, Fiona retracts this and insist that it is in-fact Scotty's fault.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cooper, in spades.
  • Karma Houdini: Donnie and Fiona. They cheat on Scott for a year then reveal this to him in the most public way imaginable both clearly taking pleasure in humiliating him. Not only are they never punished for this but Donnie gets a successful music career out of it.
  • Karmic Jackpot: Jamie selling his camera, after losing everyone's money, starts a series of events that end with him getting hired to tour all of Europe's museums.
    • Not to mention he sells it for what appears to be several hundred thousand euro.
  • Kick the Dog: "Scotty Doesn't Know" is one for Scotty. He gets used to it, though.
  • Kissing Under the Influence: Goes hand in hand with the Twincest.
  • Mile-High Club: Cooper and Jenny.
  • Mushroom Samba: Subverted, see Freestate Amsterdam above. Also double-subverted when the boys are under the hallucinogenic effects of absinthe: they complain it's not working, and then ask the green fairy what he thinks.
  • Naked People Are Funny
  • Nice Hat
  • Official Couple: Scott and Mieke.
  • One of the Boys: Jenny is constantly refered as a guy, and she dislikes it.
  • Placebo Effect: Scotty and Jenny order some brownies from a bakery in Amsterdam run by a Dreadlock Rasta. They're stoned out of their minds... until the Dreadlock Rasta informs them that they're not hash brownies.
  • The Pope
  • Black Comedy Rape: The Club Vandersexx scene.
  • Refuge in Audacity: A lot of the movie, but especially "Scotty Doesn't Know":

"I did her on his birthday..."

  • Road Movie
  • Ruritania / Commie Land : Practically everything mildly east of Germany is shown as this.
  • Running Gag: The song "Scotty Doesn't Know" pops up several times during the film. There are "Scotty Doesn't Know" cell phone ringtones, and there's even a techno remix of the song playing in the Eastern European nightclub.
  • Satellite Love Interest: Mieke, apart from being Scott's ideal girlfriend, doesn't have any depth at all. Justified, since she only appears in the climax.
  • Scenery Censor: Both played straight and averted.
  • Sex for Product: Now with pulp!
  • Sex Tourism
  • She Cleans Up Nicely
  • Show Some Leg: In a deleted scene, Jenny tries flashing drivers when attempting to hitchhike. It doesn't work.
  • Sir Swearsalot: The football hooligans, who, according to Cooper, are on a whole new level of swearing compared to Americans.
  • The Stinger: Candy, the hot tub girl who spends most of her screen time rubbing one of her sizeable breasts because Cooper tells her she has something on it that hasn't come off yet, asks "Is it off now?" (Cooper: "No. Keep rubbing it.")
  • Surprise Incest: Jenny and Jamie begin drunkenly making out in an eastern European nightclub. When they open their eyes and see each other, they both react with abject horror.

Absinthe Fairy: That is some pretty fucked-up shit right there. Can you say "what the fuck did I do last night?"

"Here's a fun fact about Bratislava: You made out with your sister, man!!!"

Cooper: "Europe is like the size of the Eastwood Mall. We can walk to Berlin from there [London]."
Cooper: "Relax, Paris is practically a suburb of Berlin. It's a nothing commute."

    • There is one comment about the "island of England."
    • They also pass the Black Forest and apparently, Heidelberg on the way from Bratislava to Berlin. Bratislava is not in France.
    • There's also multiple scenes involving the table/condiment "map" set up near the beginning: when they head from Berlin to Rome, it's shown on another table that, were one to line it up with a map, would probably be closer to Russia.
  • You Fail History Forever

Cooper: This is why France and Germany have always been allies.

  1. ↑ not impossible, but not that likely
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