| EuroTrip | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jeff Schaffer[1] |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | David Eggby |
| Edited by | Roger Bondelli |
| Music by | James L. Venable |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | DreamWorks Pictures[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English[1] |
| Budget | $25 million[2] |
| Box office | $22.6 million[2] |
EuroTrip is a 2004 Americanteensex comedy[3] film directed byJeff Schaffer, from a screenplay he wrote withAlec Berg andDavid Mandel.[4] It starsScott Mechlowicz,Jacob Pitts,Michelle Trachtenberg, andTravis Wester.
Mechlowicz portrays Scott "Scotty" Thomas, an American high school graduate who travels across Europe in search of his Germanpen pal, Mieke (Boehrs). Accompanied by his friend Cooper (Pitts) and twin siblings Jenny and Jamie (Trachtenberg and Wester), Scott's quest takes him to England, France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany, and Italy, encountering awkward, humorous, and embarrassing situations along the way.
EuroTrip received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office. It gained popularity through its home video release and eventually attained acult classic status.
In the town ofHudson, Ohio, Scott "Scotty" Thomas is dumped by his girlfriend, Fiona, immediately following his 2004 high school graduation. With his best friend, Cooper Harris, Scotty attends a graduation party that evening, where the band performs a song ("Scotty Doesn't Know") detailing the affair Fiona was having with the band's singer, Donny (played byMatt Damon). Scotty returns home drunk and angry and reads an email from hisGermanpen pal, Mieke—who Scotty calls "Mike"—expressing sympathy for Scotty and suggesting they meet in person. Cooper suggests that "Mike" may be a sexual predator and Scotty tells Mieke to stay away from him. Scotty's younger brother, Bert, informs him that "Mieke" is actually a common German feminine name. Realizing Mieke is a girl and he has feelings for her, Scotty tries to contact her again, but she blocks his email address. Scotty decides to travel to Europe with Cooper to find Mieke and apologize in person.
Scotty and Cooper first arrive inLondon, where they befriend aManchester Unitedfootball hooligan firm, led by Mad Maynard (Vinnie Jones). After a night of drinking, Scotty and Cooper wake up on a bus on their way toParis with the hooligans. In Paris, they meet up with their classmates, Jenny and Jamie,fraternal twins who are touring Europe together. Jenny and Jamie decide to accompany Scotty and Cooper to find Mieke inBerlin. The group travels toAmsterdam, where Jamie is robbed while receivingoral 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 inBratislava. Finding a greatexchange rate with theU.S. dollar, the group goes to a nightclub. Drunk onabsinthe, Jenny and Jamiemake 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. Scotty and Cooper learns that Mieke has left with a summer tour group, and will be reachable inRome for only a short time. Jamie sells hisLeica Camera for plane tickets to Rome to find Mieke.
In Rome, the group heads toVatican City, where Mieke is touring before her summer at sea. Inside the Vatican, Scotty and Cooper search for Mieke and accidentally rings the bell of San Marco, which signals thePope has died. Scotty appears on a balcony and spots Mieke in the cheering crowd below, who have mistaken him for the newly elected pope; all this happens while the current pope is watching everyone. TheSwiss guards realize what is going on and detain Scotty and Cooper for their actions. However, the Manchester United football hooligans from London suddenly appear at the Vatican and demand the guards release Scotty and Cooper. Scotty 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 andhave sex in the plane's lavatory, while Jamie stays in Europe after being hired byArthur Frommer.
Scotty moves toOberlin College in the fall term to begin his studies. During his phone conversation with Cooper, who is dating Jenny, Cooper asks what Scotty's new roommate looks like. Mieke knocks on the door of his room, having been assigned to the same room because of another misunderstanding about her name. Scotty and Mieke embrace and get into bed together, with Cooper calling for Scott on the other end of a still-open cell phone call and the film's closing with the Absinthe Green Fairy wondering at his own lack of a sex life.
The cast also includesVinnie Jones as Mad Maynard (leader of theManchester United football hooligans),[7][8]Lucy Lawless as Madame Vandersexxx (a sex-clubdominatrix),[7][6]Patrick Malahide asArthur Frommer,[7]Diedrich Bader as Mugger,[7]Fred Armisen as Creepy Italian Guy,[6]Kristin Kreuk as Fiona (Scotty's ex-girlfriend),[9] Nial Iskhakov as Bert Thomas (Scotty's younger brother),[9]Matt Damon as Donny (Fiona's new boyfriend),[6]J.P. Manoux as Robot Man,[7] andSteve Hytner as theAbsinthe Green Fairy.Jeffrey Tambor (uncredited) and Cathy Meils were cast as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, respectively.
Writers Mandel, Berg, and Schaffer all directed, but theDirectors Guild of America forbade them from sharing the credit. Schaffer earned the honor of receiving sole credit when a production assistant picked his name out of a hat.[4]
All scenes were filmed inPrague, Czech Republic.[10] The opening scenes set in Ohio were filmed at theInternational School of Prague.[10] The scene where the main characters are boarding at the Paris railway station was filmed in Prague's main railway station (Praha hlavní nádraží).[10] The scene inside Vatican City was actually filmed inNational Museum in Prague.[10] The scenes with a German lorry driver were taken at the then-unfinishedD5 motorway nearPlzeň.[10] Matt Damon was filmingThe Brothers Grimm in Prague and agreed to play the punk singer; as he wore a wig forGrimm, Damon could shave his head forEuroTrip.[11]Arthur Frommer was initially approached to cameo as himself in the film; due to scheduling difficulties the role would ultimately be played byPatrick Malahide.[12]
Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes givesEuroTrip a 46% rating based on 119 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."[13] OnMetacritic, the film scored 45 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]
In her review forSalon, Stephanie Zacharek wrote, "The giddy ridiculousness ofEurotrip 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."[15]
In theNew 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."[16] In his review forVillage Voice, Michael Miller criticized the film for its "constant anxiety that women might turn out to be men and vice versa."[17]
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 $4.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $22.6 million.[2]
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. The "Unrated" extended edition was released on Blu-Ray in 2022.
Although not as successful at the box office as the producers'Road Trip (2000),EuroTrip did well onhome video and became acult classic.[a] Ultra Culture bloggerCharlie Lyne, who introduced a screening of the film in 2011 at theInstitute of Contemporary Arts, wrote in 2012 that "EuroTrip is satire at its most brazenly self-loathing and audaciously entertaining".[22]
Damon reportedly has said that despite appearing in notable films likeSaving Private Ryan,The Talented Mr. Ripley, and theBourne franchise, fans often repeat "Scotty doesn't know!" to him.[11]
| Eurotrip | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | February 24, 2004 |
| Genre | Punk rock,pop |
| Label | Milan |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    link |
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