Movie review: ‘Road Trip’

FloridaGator80
A promotional still photograph from the movie “Road Trip.”

Just as “National Lampoon’s Animal House” ushered in a new wave of youth-oriented comedy in the late 1970s, so would “American Pie” a generation later. There were some worthy imitators of “Animal House,” but far more losers (check out “Up the Creek” – click here to read my review). So, a year after the first installment of the coming “American Pie” franchise (click here for my take on it), “Road Trip” landed a winner in 2000 with a major “Pie” alumnus and I was impressed that it showed itself to be a really nice piece of R-rated raunchy comedy. Even better, the cast is solid. Although “Road Trip” plays on the usual R-comedy stereotypes, it does offer creativity you didn’t get in other raunchy film efforts. Especially funny is when the main characters stop and stay the night at a fraternity at the University of Tennessee. Nice touch and good acting all around.

‘Road Trip’
(2000; 93 minutes; rated R; directed by Todd Phillips and starring Brekin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart and Tom Green)

BEWARE OF WHAT YOU RECORD … AND MAIL

(NOTE: I expanded this review with some more opinion, additional trivia and the updating of links on Jan. 1, 2018. I again expanded the review on Nov. 1, 2023. I again expanded the review on Jan. 29, 2026.)

It’s nice when the headliners in a film do a good, solid job and therefore really good work by supporting cast members can be recognized. Such work can all too easily be marginalized when a headliner hasn’t done his or her job. In “Road Trip,” the quartet of friends does exactly what’s needed and there are several supporting actors who give the film a solid foundation through hilarious efforts.

“Road Trip’s” top four actors begin with Breckin Meyer (as “Josh Parker”) and move on to Seann William Scott (as “E.L. Faldt”) and Paulo Costanzo (as “Rubin Carver” — yes, Rubin with an “i”). They’re buddies at the fictional Ithaca University and Meyer is forced by circumstance to go on a road trip. His friends join in and have to use shame to force another on the trip because he’s the only one with a car – DJ Qualls (as “Kyle Edwards”), who becomes the group’s fourth as he’s the geek of whom they take advantage, but he gets the best laugh when he turns into a real party animal.

“Road Trip” director Todd Phillips would go on to do “Old School” before rocketing into the comedy stratosphere with “The Hangover” (some of that luster would diminish as the quality of the sequels fell through the floor – click here for my look at that franchise), but does an absolutely notable job here.

A promotional still photograph from the movie “Road Trip.”

The plot of “Road Trip” is simple: A college student is pining for his girlfriend at another college; he winds up cheating on her and videotaping it; the tape accidentally gets sent to the girlfriend; the student and his buddies chase it from Ithaca, New York, to Austin, Texas, with a major-league party stop at the University of Tennessee.

The movie is good because the thread holding it all together is Tom Green. Yes, I know he’s kind of a love-him-or-leave-him kind of comedian, but he is truly outstanding here. He begins to narrate the friends’ story to a bunch of would-be students (he even winds up making out with one of the mothers). Also, the film segues nicely with the subplot of a girl who likes the boy pining for his girlfriend (her own road trip to Boston is particularly hilarious). Round it out with a regimented, fascist-type father of the geek … and you’ve got “Road Trip.”

I usually start out writing about the main characters, but I want to begin with Green here. He’s simply wonderful and watchable as “Barry Manilow” (even a great name chosen for his character). He’s the eclectic older student who is just odd enough to be funny without being the object of pity. Green, who is essentially the film’s narrator and does a pitch-perfect job and comes off affable and cool. He’s the absolute treat of the film filled with treats and makes it worth watching, unlike some of his other efforts.

The second great supporting player is Amy Smart as “Beth Wagner.” She’s got a crush on Meyer and even goes on her own road trip for a showdown with his girlfriend. In a wonderful twist, it’s the wrong girl and hilarity breaks out. Smart is very smart in this role and she’s been in “Crank” and “Varsity Blues.”

Now, for my look at the main cast:

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “Road Trip.”

    A five-time Primetime Emmy nominee, Meyer is another of those Hollywood mini-men (5-foot-5½ compared to Green’s 6-foot-3), but he plays much bigger in this one. He starts out to be longsuffering because of separation from his girlfriend and winds up making erotic videos in public places with his new girlfriend. It’s a good role for a solid actor and he doesn’t stumble once. Meyer has been in “Rat Race” (also with Smart) and TV’s “Franklin & Bash.” All of his nominations come via the “Robot Chicken” franchise. Meyer also received a pair of nominations for “worst actor” for 2002’s “Pinocchio.”

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “Road Trip.”

    I don’t know how Scott didn’t headliner over Meyer here, but he is better and continues his “American Pie” “Stifler-like” character. However, while others would have just come off as being a thin comedy veneer with a predictable character, Scott does a solid job. He also did good work in the movie version of “The Dukes of Hazzard” (click here for my review) as well as “Dude, Where’s My Car” the same year as “Road Trip.” My favorite Scott film is “Role Models”with Paul Rudd (click here for my review).

  • Costanzo is the weak link of the quartet as the marijuana-affected brainiac who knows the secret handshake to get into a fraternity to crash for the night – a black fraternity, even though all the guys are white. Costanzo could have done more with the role and I believe the film would have been better with his character eliminated or another actor cast for the character. He was in “40 Days and 40 Nights” and TV’s “Royal Pains.”
  • Qualls is the biggest surprise in the film (his first). He does an outstanding job as the geek who gets caught up in the adventure and winds up the star at a wild frat party. Qualls has the geeky guy role down pat as he did it as a high school student in the marvelous “Big Trouble” (click here for my review). Qualls was also really good on an episode of TV megahit “The Big Bang Theory” (click here for my look at that sitcom’s “jumping the shark”) and notched a character on another megahit: “Breaking Bad.”

Here are the other three supporting actors who do notable jobs:

  • A Golden Globe winner (not for this one), Fred Ward (remember, he was one of the seven astronauts with “The Right Stuff” – click here to read my review) plays Qualls’ father “Earl Edwards.” He’s the right kind of stuck-up, filled with himself entitled jerk with a rigid personality. He’s got the right look; conveys the perfect attitude and is great in a restaurant scene where his credit card is declined. Ward was stinky in the awful “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” (click here to read my review and thank goodness the adventure ended there). He was awarded a special Globe for the ensemble cast effort “Short Cuts” from 1993. Ward died at 79 in 2022.
  • The second is Anthony Rapp as psychotic graduate teaching assistant “Jacob Schultz.” He’s in love with Smart; she doesn’t like him; and he tries to torpedo Meyer. Rapp, who was one of the high school boys in “Adventures in Babysitting” with Elisabeth Shue (click here to read my review), is neatly creepy here and there’s nice comeuppance at the end.
  • Comedian/actor Andy Dick does a great turn as the greasy, sarcastic and somewhat of a perv hotel clerk. His character doesn’t have a name, but you remember his scenes. He is simply pitch-perfect being sarcastic when Costanzo tries to buy drugs from him and even better when he locks horns (this time losing big time) with Ward. Dick was on TV’s “NewsRadio.” Dick was a Teen Choice Award nominee for “Road Trip.”

It’s better if you follow the gang on their road trip (they steal a bus at a school for the blind; get money by making donations at a sperm bank (Scott has the funniest scene here); and wind up spending the night at relative’s house where the grandfather takes Viagra and smokes marijuana.

Whew! If that doesn’t interest you, then you don’t like college-crowd kind of humor.

“Road Trip” was the 36th ranked film at the domestic box office in 2000 with $68.5 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. Worldwide it made $119.7 million on a $16 million budget, according to Wiki. The No. 1 film was “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” ($260 million). The other films from that year I’ve reviewed are:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Scott’s birth first name has only one “n;” Smart’s middle name is Lysle; and Qualls’ initials stand for Donald Joseph and his nickname is “Deej.”
  • Good casting call: Crispin Glover was originally cast as “Jacob.” Great … a talentless hack in the role that could never have done the job that Rapp ultimately did. Glover showed just how little ability he has in films such as “Teachers.”
  • Horatio Sanz serves up the most hilarious breakfast you’ll ever see as “French Toast Guy.” This restaurant scene will make you laugh, cringe and wonder what’s happening to your food at a diner. Sanz has his comedy roots with the “Second City” troupe and was on TV’s “Saturday Night Live.”
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Each College in the movie, other than the University of Tennessee, is altered from names of real colleges. For example, University of Ithaca does not exist but is supposed to spoof Ithaca College and Cornell, neither does University of Austin which is a spoof of University of Texas, or University of Boston which could spoof Boston College, or Boston University, or most likely University of Massachusetts Boston “
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Though the film takes place at schools in Ithaca, Boston, and Austin, almost all of the college scenes were filmed at Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia, all near Atlanta.”

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