EuroTrip

EuroTrip
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jeff Schaffer[1]
Produced by
Written by
  • Jeff Schaffer
  • Alec Berg
  • David Mandel
Starring
Music by James L. Venable
Cinematography David Eggby
Edited by Roger Bondelli
Production
company
Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures[1]
Release date
  • February 20, 2004 (2004-02-20)
Running time
 92 minutes[1]
Country United States[1]
Language English[1]
Budget $25 million[2]
Box office $20.8 million[2]

EuroTrip is a 2004 American teen comedy adventure film written by Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, and directed by Schaffer. The film stars Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester, and Jessica Boehrs. Mechlowicz portrays Scott "Scotty" Thomas, an American teenager who travels across Europe in search of his German pen pal, Mieke (Boehrs). Accompanied by his friend Cooper (Pitts) and siblings Jenny and Jamie (Trachtenberg and Wester), Scott's quest takes him to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bratislava, Berlin, and Rome, encountering awkward, humorous, and embarrassing situations along the way. The film received a 2004 Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Your Parents Didn't Want You to See.

Plot

The film begins in Hudson, Ohio in 2004, where Scott Thomas (Scott Mechlowicz) is dumped by his girlfriend, Fiona (Kristin Kreuk), immediately after his high school graduation. With his best friend, Cooper Harris (Jacob Pitts), Scott attends a graduation party that evening where the band performs a song detailing the affair Fiona was having with the band's singer (Matt Damon). Scott returns home drunk and angry and reads an e-mail from his German pen pal, Mieke (Jessica Boehrs), expressing sympathy for Scott and suggesting they meet in person. However, Scott has always misunderstood her name as "Mike", thinking that she is male. Cooper suggests that "Mike" may be a sexual predator, and Scott tells Mieke to stay away from him. Scott's younger brother informs him that "Mieke" is a common German girl's name. Realizing his mistake, and that he has feelings for Mieke, Scott tries to contact her again, but finds that Mieke has blocked his email address. Scott decides to travel to Europe, with Cooper, to find Mieke and apologize in person.

Scott and Cooper arrive in London, where they befriend a Manchester United football hooligan firm, led by Mad Maynard (Vinnie Jones). After a night of drinking, Scott and Cooper wake up on a bus on their way to Paris with the hooligans. In Paris, they meet up with their classmates Jenny and Jamie (Michelle Trachtenberg and Travis Wester), fraternal twins who are touring Europe together. Jenny and Jamie decide to accompany Scott and Cooper to find Mieke in Berlin. The group travels to Amsterdam, where Jamie is robbed while receiving oral sex in an alley, losing everyone's money, passports, and train tickets. They attempt to hitchhike to Berlin, but due to a language misunderstanding, they end up in Bratislava. Finding a great exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, the group goes to a nightclub. Drunk on absinthe, Jenny and Jamie make out with each other, witnessed by Scotty and Cooper, and are horrified when they realize what they are doing. The next day, a Slovak man drives them to Berlin, where they learn that Mieke has left with a summer tour group, and will be reachable in Rome for only a short time. Jamie sells his camera for plane tickets to Rome.

In Rome, the group heads to the Vatican City, where Mieke is touring before her summer at sea. Inside the Vatican, Scott and Cooper search for Mieke, but accidentally ring the bell that signals the Pope has died. Scott appears on a balcony and spots Mieke in the crowd below. The Swiss Guards detain Scott and Cooper, but they are rescued by the Manchester United hooligans. Scott finally introduces himself to Mieke and confesses his love. Mieke is happy to see him, and they have sex in a confessional booth before she leaves on her trip. On the flight back to Ohio, Jenny and Cooper give into their urges and have sex in the plane's lavatory, while Jamie stays in Europe being hired by Arthur Frommer.

In the fall, Scott moves to Oberlin College. During a phone conversation with Cooper, who is now dating Jenny, Mieke knocks on his door, having been assigned to the same room due to another misunderstanding about her name. They embrace and get into bed together.

Cast

Production

Writers Mandel, Berg, and Schaffer all directed while only Schaffer could achieve director credit, according to the DVD filmmaker commentary. Also according to the commentary track, all scenes were filmed in Prague, the Czech Republic, especially in the streets close to the Rudolfinum. The opening scenes set in the United States was filmed at the International School of Prague. The scene where the main characters are boarding at the Paris railway station was filmed in Prague's main railway station (Hlavní nádraží). The scene inside Vatican City was actually filmed in Prague's National Museum. The scenes with a German lorry driver were taken at the then-unfinished D5 motorway near Pilsen.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 47% rating based on 120 reviews, and an average of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus says, "A trip worth taking if one's not offended by gratuitous nudity and bad taste."[3] On Metacritic, the film scored 45 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4]

In her review for Salon, Stephanie Zacharek wrote, "The giddy ridiculousness of Eurotrip is a pleasant surprise: The picture starts out slow and unsteady in its rhythms. But just when you begin to wonder if it’s ever going to get funny, or if it’s going to be merely desperate all the way through, it lifts off like a wobbly helicopter—and somehow it keeps flying."[5] Ultra Culture blogger Charlie Lyne, who also introduced a screening of the film in 2011 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, wrote that "EuroTrip is satire at its most brazenly self-loathing and audaciously entertaining."[6]

In the New York Times, Elvis Mitchell wrote that "almost every girl in the movie with fewer than 10 lines to speak has to take her top off."[7] In his review for Village Voice, Michael Miller criticized the film for its "constant anxiety that women might turn out to be men and vice versa."[8]

Box office

The film was released in the United States and Canada on February 20, 2004, in 2,512 theaters. Over its opening weekend, the film grossed $6.7 million. It went on to gross $17.8 million in the United States and Canada and $3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.8 million.[2]

Home media

The film was released on DVD in the U.S. on June 1, 2004, in an R-rated theatrical version (90 minutes) and an "Unrated" extended version (92 minutes). The theatrical version was released on Blu-ray in 2013.

Soundtrack

Eurotrip
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released February 24, 2004
Genre Punk rock, pop
Label Milan
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
  1. "Scotty Doesn't Know" – Lustra
  2. "My Generation" – Chapeaumelon (The Who cover)
  3. "Wild One" – Wakefield
  4. "99 Red Balloons" – Goldfinger (Nena cover)
  5. "In the City" – The Jam
  6. "Shooting Stars" – Cauterize
  7. "Nonchalant" – Chapeaumelon
  8. "Scotty Doesn't Know" (Euro Version) – MC Jeffsky
  9. "Make My Dreams Come True" – Apollo 440
  10. "Du" – David Hasselhoff (Peter Maffay cover)
  11. "Les Promesses" – Autour De Lucie
  12. "Walking in the Clouds" – Basement Jaxx
  13. "I Love Marijuana" – Linval Thompson
  14. "Turn It Up" – Ugly Duckling
  15. "Get Loose" – The Salads

Additional songs

The film features additional tracks not included on the soundtrack album:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Eurotrip". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  2. 1 2 3 "Eurotrip (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  3. ↑ "Eurotrip". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  4. ↑ "Eurotrip (2004): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  5. ↑ Zacharek, Stephanie. "EuroTrip". Salon.com. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  6. ↑ "EuroTrip, a somewhat definitive review". Ultra Culture. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  7. ↑ Mitchell, Elvis (February 20, 2004). "A Jokey Quest for Eurosex, Riding a Wave of Alcohol". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Miller, Michael (February 17, 2004). "Film". Village Voice. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
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