EuroTrip

EuroTrip (2004) is about four young Americans travelling to Europe after graduation. Scott is dumped by his girlfriend on the last day of school. The same day he learns that his German penfriend Mieke, with whom he has corresponded for years, is a girl and is in love with him. In temper he sends an email cutting her off. Then he decides to go to Europe. The four land in London and from there have a disaster in every country: they are left penniless in Paris, walk into the wrong place in Amsterdam, are received like royalty in Bratislava because their money is a fortune there, and get entangled with a secret society in Rome. The best joke is Bratislava: it takes the cliché of a ruined Eastern Europe and inverts it, making millionaires of boys with four dollars. The band in the opening and the song they play became known independently of the film; the song announces to the entire school that Scott has been cheated on, and that is how he finds out. Matt Damon plays the singer and is not in the credits; he was placed there as a brief surprise. Jeff Schaffer directed; he came from the Seinfeld writers. It was largely shot in Prague, where all of the European cities were built. The humour is entirely crude in the teen comedy template of the period, and some jokes are plainly a problem now. It did not do well and became a cult film later. It runs 92 minutes. Good for: crude teen comedy, the early two thousands, and road films. Less good for: the sexual content and stereotypes are heavy and some jokes are indefensible now.