Eurotrip (2004)

A big thank you to Gerardo for making me aware of this quintessential early 2000s american comedy coming of age film, in which an american boy, having become aware that his pen friend was in fact a beautiful german girl, decides to travel to europe to win her heart, stopping off and caricatures of the big name european countries on the way.

Are there some dated aspects to the film? Certainly. Will some people get offended by the way that there country is portrayed? Undoubtedly. But if you can put aside any problematic dialogue and personal pride to accept the way that the world has settled on perceiving your country, you will be rewarded with an underloved gem of the genre. The acting is surprisingly solid, and there is an unexpected depth to the caricatures. Even the american teenagers, who fall easily into the allotted archetype slots for this kind of film, display a little bit more depth than i was expecting to see. Unlike some coming of age films, where the coming of age just means finally having sex, there was actual character development here.

Of course, being an early 2000s american comedy coming of age drama, there is a generous sprinkling of cringe humour which could have been done without. Then again, it can sometimes be hard to tell where the cringe ends and the deep and meaningful social commentary begins. I’m joking, there are some bits that are clearly there to fill empty space in the script, and in general i think that the shorter a film, the better. If there were to ever be a sequel, which i find unlikely, i think that a tighter script could really elevate the film.

Regardless of its flaws, this one was a fun one. For an easy night and an easy film, you could do a lot worse.