Existing in a void where Road Trip and Old School are the virtual Adam and Eve of movie creation, EuroTrip represents the latest pestilence from DreamWorks’s subterranean id-grinder. Written by the triumvirate of scribes responsible for The Cat in the Hat (one is credited as the director here as well), the film sputters alongside four dimensionless Ohio high school grads as they follow their Frommer’s through London, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Rome, and eventually—in a transition backed hopelessly by “99 Luftballoons”—Berlin.
Make that lead balloons. Audience members whooped it up when our hero’s email account snarled “Mail, motherfucker!” and when Seann William Scott’s appointed heir, Jacob Pitts, whose range of expression is about on par with a ventriloquist’s dummy, was violated by a leafblower-sized instrument. But as with Road Trip and Old School, the filmmakers are tone deaf when it comes to imaginative perversity. The gags with a subversive origin, such as the climatic vandalization of the Vatican or a wet kiss between a twin brother and sister, reek of mold. (The incestuous twins footnote makes me think that perhaps EuroTrip’s only purpose in this world is as a primer for Bernardo Bertolucci’s enticing The Dreamers.)
Still, the film isn’t ignorant of its target audience—horny boys—and in one scene the swish pan of the camera pauses and backtracks in order to ogle a leggy Latina, as if Robert Evans were operating the Steadicam with white spittle in the corners of his mouth. Lacking even a whiff of the Farrelly brothers’ generosity, the EuroTrip team exert languid mirth in equating “airhead” with “fuckable,” which could explain why the only liberated female in the whole film is played by Lucy Lawless—naturally, as a dominatrix equipped with juiced-up testicle clamps.
And hers isn’t the only star cameo: Matt Damon is beneath contempt as a skinhead rocker, in what one hopes was the result of a stumble onto the wrong soundstage. About EuroTrip’s midpoint, the cast gets stuck sharing a tight train compartment with a fey Italian gentleman (Fred Armisen) and noxious attempts at bodily comedy ensue. But as the train throttles through a tunnel, the scene also yields the film’s most pleasing image: a blank screen.
Image/Sound
Because this unrated DVD edition of Eurotrip is so jam-packed with goodies, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the transfer suffers somewhat as a result: Edge enhancement is relatively nonexistent and skin tones are excellent, but the image is a little on the soft side. Also, shadow detail is adequate and shadow delineation leaves a little to be desired (see chapter 11). The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a solid one. The surrounds aren’t very active, but dialogue is clear and undistorted and the bass is excellent on the soundtrack.
Extras
Get ready for this. First choose between two commentary tracks featuring Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer. The first one is affectionately referred to as the “sober” track by the intelligent and consistently engaging filmmakers, who talk non-stop about the production and offer countless anecdotes throughout. Considering how honest a reflection Eurotrip is of all sorts of male heterosexual hang-ups, it’s interesting that the nude beach scene was listed as the best and worst scene in the film by test audiences. Indeed, the best moment on this commentary track is when one of the guys acknowledges that gay panic no doubt informed the negative opinion of many teenage males in the audience. The second track is the “party commentary,” and it allows the men to watch and comment on the film as if they were sitting at home together on a Friday night drinking beer. This latter track is best enjoyed under the influence.
Those who can’t get enough of the film will enjoy the following: a bizarre gag reel unofficially hosted by the drunken green fairy, no less than thirteen deleted scenes (don’t miss the return of Fred Armisen’s creepy Italian), and the film’s unpopular alternate ending. And for those interested in the film’s naughty bits and pieces, the handy “Nude Scene Index” and “Unrated Scene Index” are provided here for your convenience. DreamWorks knows their target audience, so instead of inundating this DVD with banal production featurettes, you get: a “Nude Beach Exposed” expose, a “How to Pick a Director” video (which chronicles the bizarre game of chance that positioned Schaffer as the film’s director), and “Eurotrip bootleg” (which features Berg, Mandel, and Schaffer commenting on the quality of a bootleg copy of the film). Rounding out the supplemental materials is a “Scotty Doesn’t Know” music video and sing-a-long, a soundtrack spot, a photo gallery, the film’s script, production notes, cast and crew bios, Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick promos, and trailers for Eurotrip, Anchorman, and Along Came Polly.
Overall
Eruotrip barely made a blip at the box office, but DreamWorks does right by it on this DVD edition in the supplements department.
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