Scotty Thomas (Scott Mechlowicz) is devastated when his girlfriend dumps him on graduation day. And when his Berlin-based computer pen-pal Mieke (Jessica Boehrs) makes a cyber-pass at him, he freaks out, thinking she is a guy. Unable to contact her after she adds him to her blocked email list following an on-line spat, Scotty and best friend Cooper (Jacob Pitts) decide to join twins Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and Jamie (Travis Wester) on their European trip through Europe, so Scotty can tell Mieke how he feels about her.

"EuroTrip" Trailer

An exuberant teen road movie with some wild ideas that work much of the time, EuroTrip is a good natured and fun trip. Bawdy, irreverent and politically incorrect humour are the order of the day as four post-graduate students throw caution to the wind as they follow their instincts and dreams across Europe. The premise is far-fetched and some of the plot points fail to tally, yet the cast is fresh and likeable, and their zest for living infectious.

Taking the concept of students backpacking through Europe and throwing in an internet pen-pal romance for good measure, director/writer Jeff Schaffer and co-writers Alec Berga and David Mandel have come up with some very funny concepts, poking fun at conventional views of different cultures. And as a bonus, there are cameos from Vinnie Jones (as a manic soccer fan), David Hasseldorf (singing in German), Lucy Lawless (as the sadist Madame Vandersexxx), Joanna Lumley (as a hostel owner), and a priceless appearance by Matt Damon as a rock-singer punk, complete with shaved head, tattoos, earrings and studded leather, singing a catchy mono-tone tune called ‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’. It’s a clever gag and the filmmakers make the most of it.

The four leads are well cast: Scott Mechlowicz is appealing as the idealistic Scotty, Jacob Pitts displays wacky comic delivery reminiscent of Steve Zahn, Michelle Trachtenberg vivacious as Jenny and Travis Wester the perfect know-it all bookworm. Most of the laughs come from crazy situations, not by the kind of gross-out humour we have come to expect in such film as American Pie. But there are plenty of breasts and bums and an encounter in a nudist colony overrun by lusty men.

The sequence in the train when a lecherous Italian (played to perfection by Fred Armisen) starts groping the students as soon as the train enters a tunnel, is a fun concept, starting with an unwanted hand on leg and ending with a man with no trousers. In Amsterdam, the alleged drug and sex capital, each student experiences his/her own adventure – from the sex torture-chamber of Madame Vandersexxx, to the imagined hash-brownie experience. The throwaways are fun – like the scene when Mieke’s five year old blond stepbrother scribbles a black Hitler-like moustache on his upper lip with his crayons, and screams ‘Heil!’ marching up and down the living room. There’s a dig at East Europe, when the group are left in the slums of Slovakia by a crazed truckdriver high on amphetamines. It’s amazing how far $US1.83 can go – champagne, hotel suites, massages, facials, discos, tips and there’s even some left over for a bottle of the hallucinatory green spirit Absinth.

But the film totally loses the plot in Rome, where Scott and Cooper find themselves in the Pope’s chambers in the Vatican. It’s grossly overdone and is simply not funny. The bare buttocks in the confessional are somewhat tired – the joke, not the buttocks.

Favourable: 0

Unfavourable: 0

Mixed: 1

TITLE: EUROTRIP

RATING: (MA)

ORIGIN: (US)

SECTION: Reviews

CAST: Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Webster & Jessica Boehrs

PRODUCER: Alec Berg, David Mandel, Jackie Marcus

DIRECTOR: Jeff Schaffer

SCRIPT: Alec Berg, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer

CINEMATOGRAPHER: David Eggby

EDITOR: Roger Bondelli

MUSIC James L. Venable

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Allan Starski

RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes

AUS DISTRIBUTOR: UIP

AUS RELEASE: August 12, 2004