EuroTrip (2004)

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The posters and trailers for Eurotrip claim that no Europeans were harmed during the making of this film. That statement seems like a stretch once you've seen the movie, which is chock full of the worst kinds of stereotypes about denizens of the Old Country. Thankfully, stereotypes often form the basis for the best kind of comedy, no matter what high-minded PC folks try to cram down your throat. You want funny? See Eurotrip. You want to feel like your brain was hijacked by the harbingers of boredom? See Against the Ropes. It's just that simple.

In terms of the Teen Gross-Out/Sex Romp genre, Eurotrip doesn't disappoint (compare it to 21 Grams, though, and it's a completely different argument). It's funnier than the first American Pie film, and better than the second two Pie films put together. Eurotrip is full of the kind of humor we wish we still got from Adam Sandler and the Farrelly brothers - you know, back before they all turned into sappy old men.

Eurotrip begins with stylish opening credits, complete with a Euro update of "My Generation," that riff on airline safety instruction cards before dropping us into the Cleveland-area graduation of our protagonist, Scott Thomas (Scott Mechlowicz). Scott's happy because he's done with school and his girlfriend Fiona (Kristin Kreuk) is about as hot as they come. Sadly, Scott doesn't realize she's a filthy whore until she dumps him and 'fesses up about her triple-digit list of sexual partners (eventually, Fiona finds solace in the arms of a punk singer played by Matt Damon - one of Eurotrip's fun cameos, which include Lucy Lawless, Joanna Lumley, Rade Sherbedgia, Fred Armisen and Vinnie Jones).

Just when Scott doesn't think he can feel any lower, he realizes his longtime German pen pal is actually an über-babe named Mieke (Jessica Boehrs) - not, in fact, a creepy guy named Mike. He doesn't make this connection until sending a blow-off message after Mieke suggests a physical meeting. What follows is the standard but popular Race to the Girl Before She's Gone Forever scenario, only with slightly more male nudity (here's my tear quote: "More cock than The Dreamers!"). Scott is joined by best buddy Cooper (Jacob Pitts), who serves as Randal to his Dante, and wonder twins Jamie (Travis Wester) and Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg), who were planning on backpacking through Europe after graduation anyway.

The jokes have a very favorable hit-to-miss ratio across the board, whether you're talking about sight gags, physical comedy, or humor that's slightly more subtle. It's another entry from the bipolar writing team of Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg and David Mandel, who can be deadly hysterical (Seinfeld, Late Night with Conan O'Brien) or make you feel like they were simply hysterically dead (The Cat in the Hat, Herman's Head). Eurotrip is the first film they've directed, and they did it as a team even though Schaffer has the lone directing credit.

1:30 - R for sexuality, nudity, language and drug/alcohol content

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X-RAMR-ID: 37092
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1252656
X-RT-TitleID: 1129652
X-RT-SourceID: 595
X-RT-AuthorID: 1146
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10