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Grade: C

Verdict: Was college really like this? Well, sometimes.

Details: Starring Tom Green. Rated R for strong sexual content, crude humor, profanity and drug use. 1 hour, 31 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: College comes in many forms. The smart minds in "Good Will Hunting." The sliced-up bodies in "Scream 2." And university life's lowest common denominator, "Road Trip."

Because it was filmed in metro Atlanta and at the University of Georgia (the school stands in for both quasi-fictional University of Ithaca and Austin's University of Texas), there's much that local movie fans may want to see. Such as the UGA campus and the seemingly hundreds of local extras strolling Athens and dancing at locally filmed house parties.

There's also a lot you may not want to see. "Road Trip," produced by Ivan Reitman ("Animal House," "Ghostbusters"), is about a quartet of guys who head out to try and retrieve a sex video sent astray. It has its share of gross-outs, from making fun of large women to doing something completely disgusting with French toast. And you thought "American Pie" might have gone too far?

"Road Trip" is a dumb and dumber version of "Animal House," which had gross-outs in its day but also wittily spoofed fraternities, college parties, college government, the U.S. government, ROTC, sex, drinking, drugs, dating and, of course, road trips. "Road Trip" is nothing more than a series of sight gags and put-downs. It's often funny, but it never has anything smart to say. The trailer that's been playing everywhere reveals all the major laughs.

The movie's saving grace is MTV genius Tom Green. He's the guy on the tube who'll do anything--paint polka dots on his parents' house while they're away, or escort an ark of petting-zoo animals into it. And he's funny. He does good bits in "Road Trip" but isn't in it enough (he would sign on for only a 15-day stint, so his character is mostly at the beginning and end).

That leaves us with four less skilled actors performing most of the film's antics. And, while some moviegoers obviously relish this kind of shtick, these guys mostly just crash and burn.

— Bob Longino, Cox News Service

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