Eurotrip is not a great film. However, it is a very, very good film if you are in the mood. And by the ‘mood’, I mean the mood to remember what it felt like to be 18, to laugh at easy gags and to really relax at the cinema. It comes from the same group of brilliant filmmakers that brought us both Old School and Road Trip. If you enjoyed either of these films, you will enjoy Eurotrip. I give in 3 stars.
The premise of this film is simple enough. Scott, our main character, finishes high-school, only to find out his girlfriend has been liaising with some kind of skinhead. Cooper, his quirky but cool best friend convinces him to travel to Europe, get over his funk, and find the girl of his dreams.
For much of the journey, they are accompanied by a set of twins, Jenny, who is a coming of age tomboy, and her retentive brother Jamie. Their shenanigans take them to London, Paris, Amsterdam (of course), Bratislava, Berlin and Rome, and there are plenty of laughs along the way.
Of course, the resolution to the film is predictable enough. I’m not spoiling the film when I tell you that Scott ends up with the girl of his dreams. This being said, this is a film that you watch for the chapters that unfold along the way. Highlights include several great scenes with soccer thug-turned-tough actor Vinnie Jones, a hilarious robot fighting scene, and one huge night out on the Absinthe in a Slovakian nightclub.
If you want a complex plot – see the Matrix. If you want a beautiful, moving film – see The English Patient (or better still, read it). But if you want to laugh heartily, and don’t mind jokes that are crude and nasty at times, then see this film.
[As a postscript, watch carefully for the flyover shot of HBS near the end of Eurotrip. It is the exact same flyover that many will remember from the start of Old School!]