Tuesday, June 15, 2004
DVD Review: Euro Trip
I wouldn't rank Euro Trip among the best comedies of the past few years, but after a smorgasboard of depressing cinematic fare lately (City of God, Mystic River, Monster, House of Sand and Fog), I was in need of comic relief. Euro Trip delivered.
Euro Trip's plot is just slightly less illogical as Day After Tomorrow. But when you laugh at this movie, you're at least supposed to. The movie follows Scott, a recent high school graduate, whose girlfriend dumped him immediately after the ceremony, and three friends on a trek across Europe.
Them ending up in Europe is the illogical part (the first of many, actually). A bizarre e-mail gaffe with Scott's penpal "Mike," who was hoping to meet Scott in Ohio, results in an impromptu trip to the Old World. It turns out that Mike is actually Mieke, a beautiful blonde German. She's now blocked Scott's email address, and his only way to meet her is to find her in Berlin. So Scott and Cooper tell the folks they're going camping, and set off for Europe.
From there you can imagine what happens: the typical comedy of errors, with plenty of sophomoric slapstick, and more nudity than you can shake a stick at (pun intended). The two join up with friends Jaime and Jenny in Paris, who are already in the midst of a European backpacking vacation (please tell me what kind of parents allow their 18-year-old kids to go on an unsupervised wanderlust through a foreign continent?).
I'm not seriously dissecting a raunchy B-comedy, but that premise is so silly that I had to say something.
Euro Trip's humor misses as often as it hits, but its largely unknown cast keeps it from ever getting too low. Scott is a blend of Collin Hanks in Orange County and Jason Biggs in American Pie, but without quite as much whiny "poor-me" pathos. And though his sex-crazed sidekick, Cooper, fails to match the Stifler-esque wit and energy that I think the film tried to emulate, his subdued demeanor didn't detract. Throw in the lovely Michelle Trachtenberg as Jenny, a girl that's just one of the boys, and her twin brother Jaime, the anal nerd who saves the day in the end, and you get a predictable, yet enjoyable comedy.
Two scenes that really had me rolling:
- At the graduation party, alt-rocker Donny (apparently Matt Damon in a well-disguised cameo) dedicates an anniversary song to his "sex kitten," which turns out to be Scott's ex-flame, Fiona. The song? "Scotty didn't know."
- While in line to see The Louvre, the foursome encounters a costumed Frenchman doing the robot dance. Scott begins to mock him and a robot dance-off ensures. The a robot fight scene follows. I couldn't stop laughing at this stupid, funny, moment.
One thing I could have done without was the gratuitous penis shots. But there are plenty of boobs to balance things out.
7/10
|
Euro Trip's plot is just slightly less illogical as Day After Tomorrow. But when you laugh at this movie, you're at least supposed to. The movie follows Scott, a recent high school graduate, whose girlfriend dumped him immediately after the ceremony, and three friends on a trek across Europe.
Them ending up in Europe is the illogical part (the first of many, actually). A bizarre e-mail gaffe with Scott's penpal "Mike," who was hoping to meet Scott in Ohio, results in an impromptu trip to the Old World. It turns out that Mike is actually Mieke, a beautiful blonde German. She's now blocked Scott's email address, and his only way to meet her is to find her in Berlin. So Scott and Cooper tell the folks they're going camping, and set off for Europe.
From there you can imagine what happens: the typical comedy of errors, with plenty of sophomoric slapstick, and more nudity than you can shake a stick at (pun intended). The two join up with friends Jaime and Jenny in Paris, who are already in the midst of a European backpacking vacation (please tell me what kind of parents allow their 18-year-old kids to go on an unsupervised wanderlust through a foreign continent?).
I'm not seriously dissecting a raunchy B-comedy, but that premise is so silly that I had to say something.
Euro Trip's humor misses as often as it hits, but its largely unknown cast keeps it from ever getting too low. Scott is a blend of Collin Hanks in Orange County and Jason Biggs in American Pie, but without quite as much whiny "poor-me" pathos. And though his sex-crazed sidekick, Cooper, fails to match the Stifler-esque wit and energy that I think the film tried to emulate, his subdued demeanor didn't detract. Throw in the lovely Michelle Trachtenberg as Jenny, a girl that's just one of the boys, and her twin brother Jaime, the anal nerd who saves the day in the end, and you get a predictable, yet enjoyable comedy.
Two scenes that really had me rolling:
- At the graduation party, alt-rocker Donny (apparently Matt Damon in a well-disguised cameo) dedicates an anniversary song to his "sex kitten," which turns out to be Scott's ex-flame, Fiona. The song? "Scotty didn't know."
- While in line to see The Louvre, the foursome encounters a costumed Frenchman doing the robot dance. Scott begins to mock him and a robot dance-off ensures. The a robot fight scene follows. I couldn't stop laughing at this stupid, funny, moment.
One thing I could have done without was the gratuitous penis shots. But there are plenty of boobs to balance things out.
7/10
Longhorn Sites
Astros Sites