Road Trip
(Unrated Version)
review by Zach B.
Not Rated
Studio: Dreamworks
Running Time: 95 minutes
Starring Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy
Smart, Rachel Blanchard, Fred War, Tom Green
Written by Todd Phillips and Scott Armstrong
Directed by Todd Phillips
Retail Price: $26.99
Features: Theatrical Trailers, Production Notes, Cast
and Crew Bios, Delted Scenes, Eels Music Video, Making Of
Featurette, DVD-ROM: Trivia, Screensaver
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby
Digital, English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Surround, English
Subtitles, Chapter Search (24 Chapters)
Josh and Tiffany have a long history together. They grew
up together, they were friends for a long time and they
finally started to go out. Sounds like an everlasting love,
right? Not quite. College time has come, and each has gone
on to seperate colleges. Josh loves her to death and keeps
calling her, but she doesn't answer and Josh goes nuts.
While Josh hasn't exactly given up hope with his longtime
girlfriend, he does become tempted by Beth, a very nice girl
he knows at college and who flirts with him. However, Josh
gives in and they have sex twice... all captured on video
tape. Now the madness begins - Josh was going to mail
Tiffany a personal video, but ends up sending the sex tape
instead. Now it's up to him, his friends and a nerd with a
car to take a long road trip to Texas and get the tape
before Tiffany sees it. Of course, on their trip, hilarity
and madness ensue.
So this is "Road Trip", last May's hit comedy which
actually garnered some very nice reviews. This movie isn't a
masterpiece by any means of course, it's just fun. The
characters are seterotypical and nothing new, the outcome is
pretty predictible and there are just a lot of gross out and
pretty funny scenes.
This movie was not what I expected. I think it's a little
overrated, and this unrated version only has an extra minute
of footage (I didn't see this movie in the theater, but from
what I heard it's just more nudity). I admit I chuckled at
some points, but the movie got a little too dull for me.
Audiences all over loved this movie, but I think it's just
okay. I thought it lacked depth (yes, I think a movie like
this needs just a little depth) and I thought there could
have been some better scenarios with the whole road trip
deal. But that's me. I just didn't find it that
entertaining.
However, my interest became really high when Tom Green
showed up on the screen. I know they're people who love his
wacky, crude antics and others just find him annoying. I
like Tom Green personally. Sometimes I think he's off the
wall on his show, but I generally find him funny and in this
movie (with scripted lines) he gets the job done and gets it
done extremley well. His unorthodox tour of the fictional
University of Ithica were probably the best part of the
movie for me.
Todd Phillips, who's no stranger to college with
documentaries, makes his non-documentary debut here. Though
I thought there could have been more to this movie, his
script with Scott Armstrong is what it is supposed to be and
his direction is pretty keen.
Love it, hate it, "Road Trip" is another fun teen comedy
and it is sure to gain a bigger audience on home video.
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, this unrated
version of "Road Trip" looks pretty nice. Fleshtones are
natural, shadow detail is very good, there is no artifacting
and it is pretty pristine. The only thing which brings it
down is the amount of grain and dirt present on the print...
it is noticable and pretty abundant.
"Road Trip" is presented in DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital
5.1. Each of these tracks suit the film nicely, though there
is nothing majorly outstanding. I found fidelity to be a
little higher and the sounds just a tad bit tighter with the
DTS, but all in all, each track is nceck and they both sound
great. The music mixes the channels creatively and there are
some nice booming sounds, such as a car exploding (and Tom
Green screaming). Again, they are good tracks and everyone
should be pleased with them. English Dolby Surround is
included as well.
This Unrated Version has One Extra Minute
of footage as I mentioned which appears to be nudity, but I
guess this big feature here is the "Road Kill" Deleted
Scenes. Here, about eleven minutes worth of deleted
scenes are presented and it is clear why they were cut, but
they are still pretty enjoyable. There are eight deleted
scenes, and by using chapter skip you can go right to the
next one.
Making Of With Tom Green is a pure fluff
featurette that I didn't find that interesting or appealing.
That lasts about five minutes. There are some good
Production Notes (also on the insert) as well as some
nice Cast and Crew Bios.
An Eels Music Video is presented in non-anamorphic
widescreen and features footage from the movie as well as
some of the cast. There are also two Theatrical
Trailers. While the menu just says there is one, after
the first one plays you get another one. Finally, there are
some cool DVD-ROM features such as trivia and a
screensaver.
Oddly enough, the Scene Index is in the Special Features
section while the Audio and Subtitles selection get their
own areas on the main menu.
If you like a fun teen comedy, then "Road Trip" will
definently delight you. While I felt there could have been a
bit more to the movie, this DVD has some decent audio and
picture and some okay extras. Plus, you got an extra minute
that wasn't shown in theaters. If you liked the movie, be
sure to pick this disc up.
 (3/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (2.5/5)
(3.5/5, NOT an average)
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