Senior Trip

source: National Lampoon's Senior Trip

I saw this movie tonight, and I admit I laughed at some of it. it's actually a decent movie, but it's nothing that I would suggest going out and renting. If it's on t.v. watch it, otherwise, rent something that is a better example of our generation, not a cheesy movie like this.

I really don't care about what others think, but for me this movie is the best teen comedy ever. Maybe, it's just because I've not seen a lot of teen comedies. It was year 1996 in Russia, when I bought this movie on VHS in little shop near my house. At this time I was a little stupid kid. I think, I was 10 or 11 years old. This movie made a big impression on me. You know, it's kinda hard to explain my feelings in English, cause it's not my native language, but I'll try. Since I was a kid, I wanted to become a "cool, mature guy". I thought that being mature is like having parties all the time, drinking alcohol and so on. "Senior trip" had it all in it. It was really funny, it had all this "cool" music, that I tried to like. At this time I got my first "Nirvana" CD. I liked to be the one I was. I liked being bad, talking in bad language, joking about sex. Yes, I was a bad kid. A really bad one. After years of life such as this I get to hospital, I was really depressed, but it has nothing to do with the movie. It was very cool to listen to grunge music in 1996, though it was not so popular in the US. And the movie felt like a "grunge" movie for me. Yeah, I know it's a very stupid movie, it has a lot of crap in it, but I still like it, cause it was like a Bible at my teenage. It showed me another, alternative life, not the stupid life I was living. My best friend liked this movie, too. He is the only one whom I showed it to this day. For me it's very personal movie, though it's neither about my life nor about my country. I think, it's very hard to understand, why I think it's great. Cause it's just my feeling, which I can't explain in Russian, too. After this movie I saw some teen comedies like "American pie", "Road trip", "Not another teen movie", "Scary movie", but all of them are a much more badder than "Senior trip". Yes, I laughed when I watched first parts of "American pie" and "Scary movie", but I've never wanted to re-watch them again. I don't think that this movie will be a hit, if it gets re-published today. The world has changed, the teenagers have changed. This movie is a history now. Nothing else. But in my heart it is a classic.

Usually, a big indicator that a movie is worth seeing is if Ebert and his partner (Siskel, as it was in 1995) give it "two thumbs up". Most of the time, any studio that releases the movie that gets two thumbs up will rush to print the accolade on the box of the movie when it is released to video. But if it DOESN'T get two thumbs up, there's no need to worry because there is bound to be somebody who has something good to say about a movie. I mention this because when I rented this movie a long time ago, not one review graced the cover of this train wreck. Not one. I would soon discover why. when I watched this movie I was 15 years old, so you figure I was part of this movie's target audience. But I can tell you, as a 15-year old kid, I didn't laugh at all. The movie was totally, utterly unfunny. The story follows a bunch of high school seniors who embark on a trip to Washington, D.C. A grab-bag of mindless high school stereotypes (handsome rebellious guy, anti-social guy, disgusting fat moron, smart goody-two shoes, computer nerd, promiscuous outcast) get thrown into detention and are assigned to write an essay, which will be sent to Washington, explaining the faults in the modern American education system. The smart goody two shoes, Miss Tracy Milford (Valerie Mahaffey) is the only one who actually writes a paper, and wouldn't you know, the President reads it and loves it. Enter the senior trip. I hoped that at least things would get funny here, as road trip movies usually involve unusual situations/characters. It's cliche, but who cares if it's done well, right? Well, it's not done well here. Kevin McDonald, the only person in this movie I recognized from other projects (aside from Tommy Chong in an amazingly humor-devoid role as the bus driver who is a raging drug addict) plays a weird Star Trek-obsessed crossing guard, who has a personal vendetta against one of the seniors, and chases the group to D.C. Don't ask. After a series of stupid and endless scenes, we finally end up in D.C., where the President finds out that the group of kids aren't the scholars he thought that they were. This leads to a mercilessly banal, sappy speech from the seniors about how it's too late for them, but not for tomorrow's children, or something smiliar. I can believe that one could be convinced that public education is in bad shape by parading these kids around, but I can't believe that the response solicited from such a display would be the ever popular 'slow clap', started by the President himself. After that, the movie somehow ends, but not soon enough. I identified with none of the characters portrayed in the movie. Even Tracy Milford, who at one point looked like she was above the rest of the crew, totally betrayed me when it was revealed that she had feelings for Mark "Dags" D'Agastino (Jeremy Remner, the "star" of the movie), a punk that no girl of intelligence or ambition could ever find attractive. While most teen comedies have outlandish characters, there is always at least a grain of truth to them. I was spoon-fed a series of what looked like an out-of-touch writer's uneducated guess of what they thought high school kids were. So awful was this movie that some seven years after viewing it I can still recall it well enough to review it. Most bad movies I hope to never see again. This is the kind of bad movie I hope to repress. National Lampoon's Senior Trip: Zero stars (out of four)

This movie is one of my favorite comedies. One of the funniest I've ever seen. My favorite parts are where the psycho crossing guard guy who is obsessed with Star Trek is stalking Reggie. It's too bad they don't call movies like these classics, if they did, teenagers would rule the film industry. Check it out. 10/10

Being someone who usually when he has the cash heads to the film theaters alone. I liked this film...the stuffy kid in the suit reminds me of what I possibly could ahve been like had I gone along with stuffy stupid republicans at a similar event. I was involved in the close up foundation and am so glad I lost. This film spoofs those functions. Naturally, this film was not about me or my situation in life (i am different than this character and excell at dressing like a slob and looking like one.) this is a film anyone tied in with student political groups in school could love. The film satires the political ssytem and student "young" party groups that are so green they have no concept of what the ssytemis actually like. Foolish kids breast fed on half truths in cirriculum books and the "90's senastionalism" news. A great satire on the gen x generation as well. Not as clever as ANIMAL HOUSE but clever enough..yet i am not a film maker and never will be one...who am I to judge. A fun night of viewing one of the few comedies I laughed at in the 1990's.

Before i watched this movie i thought that it would suck but this movie turned out to be good and the movies about how some high school students are in detention and they write a letter to the President about what is wrong with the education system and the President reads it and he likes it and then he asks them to come to Washington to met him.There are some funny scenes in this movie like how one of the students farts in front of a fire setting some one on fire and all of the party scenes.This movie stars actors and actress like Matt Frewer,Lawrence Dane,Tara Strong,Valerie Mahaffey,Tommy Chong and Sergio Di Zio.Over all this movie was good and my rating is 6 out of 10.

I really wanted to like this movie, but I could only come up for 3 reasons to suggest anyone else endure this movie. Tommy Chong, Tara Strong and Nicole de Boer. Quite frankly, Chong isn't enough of a reason since he can be seen in better form in a dozen other choices and de Boer is a minor player at best. You are better off watching the last few seasons of Deep Space Nine to be mesmerized by Nicole. So that leaves us with Tara. Yes, Tara is enough of a reason to watch this movie... once. Only because it is the only movie in existence that she is in as a physical entity. If you don't know Tara is the voice behind 100s of cartoon characters you probably watch with your kids. The movie has a few funny moments, but they are rare and limited. Tara on the other hand is absolutely gorgeous.

What you see is what you get. Don't come in expecting anything but a low-brow stoner comedy. This is not Animal House. That was over 20 years ago - standards have dropped - National Lampoon ain't what she used to be. But it's still very much enjoyable, especially if you can relate to the knuckle-headed activities presented. It's dumb fun for drunks, stoners, and those who dare to be stupid. My only real complaints: 1. the whole Dags/Lisa romance - Who cares? I know that the formula calls for it but it was just a waste of time, get to the gags already! Lisa in particular was a completely uninteresting character. 2. Not enough Nicole DeBoer! Oh man is she hot in this and yet she's relegated to the background.

This movie isn't bad. Lots of laughs, but no enlightening philosophy. It is a great movie for large gatherings. It's not as great as Animal House, but then, what is?