Chris Carey has bounced from one job to the next ever since high school. On the one hand, freak accidents seem to happen that get him fired—such as when an industrial vacuum cleaner sucks his clothes off at a car wash. On the other, he’s kind of an idiot. (He neglects to use the serving utensils at a smoothie shop, violating health-code regulations and angering customers.)
But when he runs into Maria, his high school crush, he decides he can’t sit around waiting for his luck to change anymore. He’s going to travel to New York, where Maria lives, woo the woman of his dreams and maybe finally start getting his life on track.
Chris teams up with best friend, Bud, who’s been working at his own dead-end job and frequently gets robbed by his own sister, Trina.Together, the guys take Trina’s beloved car (which Bud was storing in long-term parking while Trina was in prison) and go on the road trip of their lives.
Of course, little do they know that Trina has escaped from the big house. Now, she’s got a vendetta against her little brother for stealing her car, and she’s not afraid to go to prison again for killing him.
Chris takes advantage of Bud’s kindness, manipulating him into stealing Trina’s car and guilting Bud into helping him find Maria. However, when Bud stands up for himself and walks away, Chris realizes how good of a friend Bud is. He apologizes and the two reconcile. He also later offers his own life in place of Bud’s.
Standing up to Chris gives Bud the confidence boost he needs to stand up to other dangers. Trina. He saves Chris’s life and, eventually, has a curious reconciliation with his sister, too.
Chris stops to help a woman with her groceries even though he’s late to work.
A woman prays out loud when she thinks that Chris is about to be murdered. While drunk, Chris also says a prayer, though it’s clear it isn’t heartfelt. Someone compares a man to a guardian angel. A man wears a cross necklace.
Chris fantasizes about having sex with Maria and we see them (in the fantasy) start to remove clothing and make out. He also imagines both of them making out with a male minister.
Two men get their genitals trapped in a Chinese finger trap and ask strangers to help them remove it (we see a fair bit of their genitals in the process). A man’s clothes are sucked off by a vacuum cleaner (we see his naked backside, but he covers his genitals with his hands).
We see gorilla semen on a man’s face. Two men imagine having sex with a polar bear. They also watch a nature documentary showing gorillas mating.
We hear crude descriptions of sex and male and female anatomy. We also see a sculpture of female genitals. A man offers sex to another man. A woman says she loves sex with all genders. A woman asks to kiss a man and he rejects her since he is married. A man hits on a woman. A few people grind on other people while dancing.
Trina threatens to kill Chris and Bud multiple times, often frightening bystanders with her aggressive behavior (she smashes several items, rips a door off a car and pops a staple gun like a real gun). She purposely crashes a car into an art gallery, beats Chris up with pieces of the art, crushes his groin area and finally chases him onto a roof, where she dangles him over the edge and threatens to drop him.
A man is sodomized by a gorilla twice. A man puts his hand into a blender and we see blood splatter everywhere. Chris falls off of a platform, getting a concussion. In a fantasy sequence, Maria beats up a man for hitting on her. She then proceeds to beat up a blind man with his walking stick. Another woman punches a man in the face.
Chris tells a military recruiter that he wants to die, asking the man to either kill him or send him off to war.
Chris and Bud wreck a car (both receiving light injuries) and it later explodes (though nobody is inside). Chris busts through a wooden fence and glass door, scaring people into believing they’re being attacked. Several people threaten to harm Bud and Chris (one man pulls out a knife and another brandishes a golf club). A man is electrocuted while jump-starting a car.
The f-word is used 110 times (15 of which are preceded by “mother”). The s-word is used 70 times. We hear “a–” 20 times, the n-word and “b–ch” 15 times and “d–k” ten times. We also hear about five uses each of “d–mit,” “a–hole,” “h—,” “p—y” and “d–n.” There is also one use of “c–ksucker” and someone is called a “retard.”
God’s name is abused 40 times (paired with “d–n” five times). Christ’s name is also abused another five times.
There are multiple profanities heard in songs throughout the film. A woman has a tattoo of the f-word spelled out. A car has a large window sticker and license plate with the word “b–ch” on them. We see a woman make a crude hand gesture and a poster with the same image.
Several people drink at a bar and at a ballroom event. One man becomes so inebriated, he vomits. Two men mistake drugs for mints and get high.
A man vapes. A woman says she mixes alcohol with medicine. We see a poster of a cartoon alligator smoking a cigar.
Throughout the film, we see real-life bystanders reacting to the shenanigans being pulled by Chris, Bud and Trina. Some people are honest citizens who try to help Chris and Bud when they get injured or who alert the police. However, some people encourage the bad behavior, egging Trina on and even lying to actors they believe are police officers.
While on house arrest, Trina removes her ankle monitor and robs the store where Bud works, giving customers cash from the register to not tell the police. Later, she breaks out of prison and convinces a man to help her escape police custody. She steals a police vehicle. And in the end, she never returns to prison since she escapes to Mexico.
Toilet humor comes into play with one man projectile vomiting and another getting covered in excrement after a porta-potty tips over. A man touches food with his bare hands, violating health code regulations.
There are several jokes about race, and a few people of color dress up as Caucasians for a prank. After breaking a nozzle at a gas station, Chris and Bud drive off without reporting the damage as gasoline spills everywhere. Two people rob a blind man. A man falls asleep while driving and nearly crashes. Someone drinks cleaning fluid.
There are some movies out there that are so stupid, they’re actually kinda funny. And then there are movies out there that are so stupid, they’re just stupid.
Bad Trip falls into the second category.
Based on prank shows where actors pull outrageous stunts to capture bystanders’ shocked reactions, Bad Trip combines this filming technique with a basic storyline to create a whole movie. And the results are about what you would expect.
The language is foul (with upwards of a hundred f-bombs), the jokes are crude and often sexual or racial in nature, a man gets sodomized by a gorilla and honestly, I don’t think I need to go on.
Bad Trip is a bad movie. Period.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
