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The Funny Americans
The iGeneration takes on Europe in Eurotrip.

Starring: Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Kristin Kreuk, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester
Director: Jeff Schaffer

Reviewed by Kevin Cunningham

SYNOPSIS: Four friends, different goals, one Fodor's guide, and Europe at their mercy.
IN OTHER WORDS: Lost in Translation meets Roadtrip in Europe.

Despite the obvious lines being drawn, the origin of this film had nothing to do with Roadtrip. The script was from a trio of former Seinfeld writers and the writers of The Cat in the Hat (one of whom became the first time director, though all three shared the work), and was the prize of a bidding war between New Line, Revolution Studios, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks and Montecito Studios, with Montecito winning for $3 million, one of the biggest sums in filmmaking history for a movie script. The Roadtrip connections came when they got part of the Producing team of Roadtrip to do some of the work for this film. The name, an obvious homage to Roadtrip, didn't come around until late in the production process, after The Ugly Americans had been nixed and several other bad names were discarded.

It still feels like a sequel.

The difference is that this film keeps it's star power limited to cameos, focusing on four relatively unknown actors, and focuses more on the script. The story is pretty basic, with the lead guy chasing after the pen pal of his dreams, but this film doesn't even bother with tying scenes together. It revels in separating each comedy sequence by country and focuses on what's important: the laughs. In this way, Eurotrip is one of the more refreshing comedies in a while. It's written more like a sitcom (which makes sense, considering the writer's pedigree), and it works if you're ready for it.

The cast powers this film along, despite having only one recognizable face in the main characters. That belongs to burgeoning beauty Michelle Tractenberg, who uses this film announce she's no longer a child star. The cast is powered by the three guys, particularly Jacob Pitts, who pulls a star turn in the stereotypical goofball best friend role. He nails every line, and is fun to watch in every scene, without ever taking things too far like some comedians do these days.

The script's sequences are centered around stereotype after stereotype, but it doesn't take them too far. The English scene centers around a group of Manchester United Hooligans. Think Raider fans wearing red. The French scene has star Scott Mechlowicz confronting a French Mime in a robot dance battle that is too funny for words. There's the overfriendly Italian guy on the train, a scene which you pretty much saw all of in the trailers. And then there's the goosestepping toddler who's thrown in to make one of the movie's few scenes of expository dialogue fun to watch, because who's listening anyways, right?

Some of the best moments come in the cameos. Rock band Lustra gets a shaven, tattooed Matt Damon to sing the catchy tune "Scotty Doesn't Know," and homage to the gullibility of the main character towards his girlfriend, with descriptive lyrics of just what he and Scotty's ex-girlfriend (Kristin Kreuk) were doing that Ludakris would be proud of. And Lucy Lawless shows up as an Amsterdam Dominatrix who takes a little too much pleasure in introducing American tourists to 'Thundersex.'

The movie also manages to push a few lines that are still relatively unpushed even in today's world. There are more nude men in this movie than nude women (and there are a lot of nude women), and the men are not of the sexy kind at all. There's also a running joke about the 'Worst Twins Ever,' which culminates in them getting drunk and making out for a moment. Judging by some reactions, the incest line isn't quite ready to be toed yet, but at least this movie wasn't afraid to try.

All in all, there are worst ways to spend your movie money. This film is a fun little escape that'll kick out more laughs than it deserves to.

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