EuroTrip

"This isn't where I parked my car..."

When EuroTrip was first released, I was sure it was going to be one of the dumbest movies ever. I will admit I was right, it was dumb. But, it was also one of the shamelessly funny movies I have ever seen. 

The movie focuses on Scotty (played by Scott Mechlowicz) and his three friends, Cooper (played by Jacob Pitts), Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg), and Jamie (played by Travis Wester) as they travel through Europe, with plenty of wild misadventures in their wake.

Scotty and his friends are graduating from High School when Scotty's girlfriend, Fiona (played by Kristen Kreuk), dumps him because she feels he's too predictable. This is made worse at the graduation party later that night when the band performs a song, "Scotty Doesn't Know", detailing in detail their exploits with Scotty's ex. It's an incredibly catchy song that reappears several times in the film as well as every road trip playlist I've ever made, often to the bemusement of my friends.

Returning home that night, extremely intoxicated, he finds an email from his German pen pal, Mieke (played by Jessica Boehrs), that he has mistaken for a guy. When she expresses interest in getting together with him, Scotty tells her to stay away. In confusion and anger, she blocks his email address. Cooper convinces him the should go to Europe and track her down. They take the cheapest flight they can get, which gets them to London. From there, they get shanghaied by Soccer hooligans, led by Vinnie Jones, and make their way to Paris where they catch up with their friends, twins Jenny and Jamie.

From there, the four get caught up in crazy adventures across Europe including a fight with a robot impersonator outside the Louvre, sharing a train compartment with a creepy, weird European guy (played by Fred Armisen), Cooper's wild night with a Dominatrix played by Lucy Lawless in Amsterdam, culminating in a reign of terror throughout the Vatican in Rome. 

The movie is a barrage of gags, all of them absurd and the height of silliness. Nothing is sacred as every culture is skewered, but somehow, none of it is mean spirited. 

For me, Jacob Pitts steals the show as Cooper. He views the trip as his "crazy, European sex odyssey" and spends the entire trip trying to get laid, which leads him into nothing but trouble. His performance provides many of the laughs as Cooper is often the either the cause of or utterly clueless, lacking any sort of tact  in any social situation. 

EuroTrip is a movie that started off rather modestly, but has grown over the past ten years into a bit of a comedy cult classic. It's certainly one that I underestimated when it was first released only to be pleasantly surprised at just how funny it really was. If you haven't seen it and are craving a movie with plenty of hearty, silly laughs, I can definitely recommend it.