.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

To be fair to Dreamwork studio's new film EuroTrip , I felt uncomfortable even before the movie began. Accustomed to arriving at movie theatres a full hour before show time, I was first shocked, then embarrassed when I saw a parade of young people - some accompanied by adults, others in wolf packs - arriving at my screening.

I didn't know much about Eurotrip other than what I read in the local papers, but I was pretty sure, I was about to sit though a film in the vein of Old School or Road Trip , both films which pushed the envelope with what is now commonly phrased as 'gross-out comedy'. So as I sat and watched these 7 to 14 year olds march into the room, it felt weird knowing that we were probably going to be subjected to copious amounts of nudity and a handful of jokes surrounding various taboo body parts. I had this vision of parents squirming in their seats wishing they had done their homework before agreeing on this films' selection.

Eurotrip starts right after high school graduation and follows a group of three horny males and one female as they travel through Europe with the goal of uniting one of the boys with his internet love. Starting in England and taking the group through France , Italy , Amsterdam and Eastern Europe , the gang encounters every stereotype imaginable and characters so unlikable and unbelievable that you can't help but hope a ticket home for these teens comes sooner rather than later. How bad is the stereotyping you wonder. Well, there's the hard-drinking-soccer-loving Englishmen who are always looking for their next fight. There is the sexed up Italian that makes his moves under the darkness of the train tunnels. Throw in an annoying French mime, a dominatrix in Amsterdam , and what Europe trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to a nude beach. Add all these together and you have the makings of this one skit at a time failure of a comedy.

Going in with absolutely no expectations, this movie had the chance to win me over. In fact, I actually chuckled during the opening credits and the cameo by Matt Damon as the singer who just stole someone's girlfriend, was upbeat and promising. Too bad they had to go to Europe .

Now usually, reviews of films spend some time talking about the actors and the director and the work they have done previous. However, Eurotrip boasts no recognizable faces (sure there's Lucy Lawless and Matt, but you wouldn't recognize them had the credits not identified). I would offer a high reward to anyone that could name a film that features Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts or Michelle Trachtenberg. Naming anything from first time director Jeff Schaffer would be even harder, but than again, any man who wrote The Cat In The Hat , might want to lay low for a while.

This movie may play well with the younger crowd, but it is in no way comparable to Old School or any of the American Pie franchise. The situations the group finds themselves in seem stretched and it is no surprise that the writing team for this film is founded in television as it plays more like a R-rated MadTV entry than it does something you want to fork over $13 bucks for.

So now back to my opening statement. In the darkened theatre, I heard the constant laughter of pre-pubescent kids laughing at people being kicked in the groin, nude men running and flapping on the beach, someone being sodomized by a electric sexual device and the implied death of the Pope. With each new scene of nudity - and there is a lot - or sexual reference, it felt like a knife digging into my side. I wondered about the rides home and whether the adults would take the opportunity to have open discussions with their children or if they would sweep the experience under the carpet. Unfortunately for me, this instance made a bad film seem even worse.