No matter your age or what you enjoy, road trips are a thing that most everyone, in one way or another, can enjoy. It can range from a long, cross-country, road trip, to a day trip around the state. Whether you are visiting a far-away college or touring vineyards, everyone can find enjoyment in a road trip. Road trips have been featured in movies for all of time, from the cross-country horse and buggy treks of long ago, to adventurous tornado chasing and family RV trips. The 2000’s alone featured many popular road trip movies.
Road Trip (2000)
Knowing each other since childhood, Tiffany and Josh are separated by their college choices. Josh ends up hooking up with a hot blonde named Beth and videotapes the encounter. The next day, he sends off a package to Tiffany containing a videotape of him sharing his college life experiences. When Josh realizes he sent the wrong tape, of him with Beth, he gathers the troops and the guys hit the road in an attempt to intercept the videotape before it reaches Tiffany. Along the way they encounter many adventures that hinder their timing to save Josh’s relationship with his true love. The movie stars Tom Green, Sean William Scott, Amy Smart, Breckin Meyer and Andy Dick, amongst many other cast members.
The movie, which I was fortunate enough to watch in the heart of my college years, is a humorous, light-hearted and fun tale of a group of friends and how they have each other’s back through a series of events. It is a movie I have been able to watch time and again and enjoy over and over.
Joe Dirt (2001)
One of my all-time favorite movies, David Spade plays Joe Dirt in this movie about a redneck that was once abandoned by his family at the Grand Canyon and forced to make it on his own. Now, as an adult, he optimistically hits the road on a search to find his family. After various misadventures, he finally makes it to Los Angeles, where a radio host brings him on air and they learn his story. Though they expected to make fun of and ridicule him, the host and listeners find themselves drawn to his story and help him in his search for his family. Joe is certain that his family didn’t leave him on purpose, so he made it his mission to reunite with them. After Brandy, his true love, finds out that the people he believes to be his family isn’t his family and are just trying to benefit from his new-found fame, she works to let him down softly when Joe is feeling more desperate than ever. In the end, Joe realizes that he already had his true family and friends. Along with David Spade, the fully-loaded cast includes Brittany Daniel, Dennis Miller, Christopher Walken, Jaime Pressly and Kid Rock.
This movie was hilarious, sad and everything in between. The movie came at a time where mullets were a fo’pau and certainly enjoyable by the audience. Between the comedy and the love story, this movie captured a large audience.
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
An awesome line-up including Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Jason Bateman, Parker Posey and many others, make up this romantic comedy.
This great comedy features Christina and Courtney, who bring Jane out on the town as she is in the middle of a relationship-induced depression. While out, Christina meets a guy named Peter and pursues him all the way to his brother’s wedding when she missed out on an opportunity with him that night. This brings Christina and Courtney on a road trip in order to show up to the wedding on time. When they make it to the wedding, they realize it is actually Peter’s wedding, and not his brother’s. At the altar, Peter and (Parker Posey) confess that they aren’t “in love” with each other and they shouldn’t get married. Time goes by and after Courtney and Jane have found new relationships, Christina comes home from a club to find Peter on her doorstep. He tells her how the marriage didn’t happen and they end up together.
Final Destination 2 (2003)
This is a story, of the thriller type, that starts with a road trip. As they start out, they are caught in a horrible accident. Kimberly is the only one who survives of all of her friends. She also saves the lives of a few other people. As a survivor, she sees the other survivors dropping like flies and has to help to stop the path of destruction.
This movie features actors such as Ali Larter, A.J. Cook and many more.
Sideways (2004)
The cast features Paul Giarnatti as Miles, Thomas Haden Church as Jack, Virginia Madsen as Maya and Sandra Oh as Stephanie.
The story features Miles and Jack who head out on a road trip in the wine country of California before Jack gets married because Miles is depressed about his failed writing career. Jack is all about having a fling before he gets married. Essentially they are searching for their identities on their journey, as they are getting close to the age of mid-life crisis and don’t have a lot to show for what they have accomplished thus far.
Are We There Yet? (2005)
Ice Cube is featured in this movie, as well as names such as Suzanne, Lindsey and Kevin Kingston, Jay Mohr and Tracy Morgan.
Nick and Suzanne, a divorced mother with two children, are tested by the challenge of getting together for the New Year’s holiday. Suzanne has to work late, so Nick brings the kids to the city from Portland. The kids have never liked anyone that their mom has like, so their mission is to make a nightmare for Nick.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
This was an amazing film about a little girl who wished to achieve Little Miss Sunshine. While she was not your average child star, she was charming and determined. Her Grandfather had faith in her, and taught her a lot of what she knew in her presentation. Her family believed in her enough to go on the road with her and allow her to live out a dream. This film includes such actors as: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin and Steve Carell.
The Bucket List (2007)
The Bucket List is an amazing film about the endeavors one pursues prior to the end of their life. While it is something hard to consider, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson seem to embrace it and come up with lists of what they would like to accomplish before their terminally ill lives end. As roommates in the hospital, they decide to head out and complete a list of to-dos on a road trip before they die.
This is an amazing movie with some of the best actors ever. Funny and sad, this is a movie that can capture the hearts of anyone.
Bolt (2008)
I bought the movie, Bolt, for my kids, but I found myself drawn to the movie. It is truly a movie about a girl and the best friend she finds in her pet dog named Bolt.
As he is raised essentially on a movie set and believes he has superpowers, he ends up separated from Penny and has to find his way back. He sees, on set, that Penny has taken to another dog that looks just like he does and is also called Bolt. He figures that Penny has moved on and found a replacement for him. But his journey brings him back to Penny and finds himself back in her arms when she realizes he’s come back for her.
This is an adorable, heart-warming movie with a great message. Bolt’s road trip brings him back to his best friend and home.
The movie features John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton and many more.
The Hangover (2009)
One of the most recent films I’ve seen, as well as the funniest, is The Hangover. This movie features an amazing cast of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham and many more… like Mike Tyson.
The story revolves around the bachelor party of Angelenos and Tracy who are about to get married. They head to Vegas for a 24-hour stag party and find themselves in a heap of trouble. As they head out that night many things happen and they find out in the morning that no one remembers what happened over the past 12 hours or so. They have to find Doug, the groom, who is missing. As the guys go on a journey to find Doug, they go through a maze of information from the night before, including a Tiger in their bathroom, which happens to belong to Mike Tyson. They are in a race with the clock to find Doug and get him back home for the wedding.
This proves to be a road trip of fun, bonding and truth as the guys head back for a wedding and have to pull it together for the biggest day in Doug’s life. It’s an amazing tale with a ton of humor that I can watch again and again.
These films over the past decade are just a small sample of the road trip movies that are provided over the years. There are so many storylines revolving around road trips and I am certain that road trip movies will continue to make their way to the theaters.
