“Let’s do some Van Damme-age!”

Justin’s rating: What’s the magic word?

Justin’s review: As of this review, the National Lampoon film series roughly covers some 50 movies, which is a mind-blowing number to me. Of course, the ratio of great-to-bottom feeding efforts is something like 1:15 across that span, so I would never advocate trying to power through all of them unless you were atoning for some truly horrid crime. It’s best to do some research and figure out which few are truly worth seeing so that you can ignore the rest and get on with your life.

And while it’s usually pretty easy to figure out whether a title is Vacation good or Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure awful, there are a few entries that bob about in the middle and need a discerning touch. I would easily put Senior Trip into the not-great-but-not-trash pile. I’ve seen it a few times over the years and had a pretty OK time with it, all the more so now that it’s become a sort of time capsule for ’90s ridiculousness and the origin story of Jeremy “Hawkeye” Renner.

It’s true: Senior Trip is Renner’s very first movie, where he stars as Dags, a cocky and rebellious high schooler who sticks it to the man and secretly hones his archery skills for the day that S.H.I.E.L.D. comes calling.

Dags is part of a cadre of Generation X slackers who are greatly disappointing their principal (Matt Frewer!) and destined to become those losers that Beck sang about that one time. Man, I wish Matt Frewer was my principal. That would’ve been the best four years of my life right there. In any case, the slackers unintentionally impress the President of the United States with an essay and are invited to travel to meet him.

So… road trip? Road trip!

Hopping on board the bus to Washington D.C. is Dag’s right-hand man, Sparky (or, as I mentally call him, “Poor Man’s Pauly Shore), Madonna wannabe Carla (Tara Strong!!!), Fat Guy Who’s Always Eating, Nerdy A.V. Geek, Angry Poet Dude, Smart Girl Who’s Got A Rebellious Streak, and their bus driver, Tommy Chong. And because every National Lampoon movie needs a preppie antagonist to mock and humiliate, there’s one here as well.

Oh, and I must mention that they’re chased by a psycho Star Trek-obsessed crossing guard played by Kids in the Hall’s Kevin McDonald. And Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Nicole de Boer is part of the crew as well. That’s like four or five pretty notable names in a somewhat disposable National Lampoon flick.

Along the way to Washington, the kids lock their principal in a flooding convenience store bathroom, throw a raging party on the bus, survive an unscheduled off-road trip, visit J. Edgar Hoover’s grave, gatecrash a fancy gathering, trash a hotel, and save the President’s dignity.

I used to watch this off and on during the late ’90s mostly because Senior Trip felt like the high school understudy to PCU. There are a lot of the same character types, cheeky rebellious streaks, and misfit goons-win-the-day endings that run through both, not to mention that they came out within a year of each other. Yet it’s undeniable that PCU does better at fashioning quality comedy and social commentary while Senior Trip struggles (and occasionally succeeds) at rising above lowest common denominator gags.

I still get some good chuckles out of the goofball squad here and Matt Frewer trying frantically to herd them away from destructiveness and illicit activities. In light of other National Lampoon flicks that I’ve sampled, Senior Trip isn’t quite as crass (though it has its moments). The whole crew here is pretty likable, and the road trip format works well with ridiculous moments. My only nitpicks are that Tara Strong is criminally underused and that the whole climax is vastly underwhelming. I also didn’t like how they ended the movie trying to pull off one of those Animal House “where are they now?” epilogues.

Senior Trip is shallow, it’s dumb, and it’s not doing the legacy of Gen X any favors. But upon a repeat watch, I still stack this on the favorable side of the National Lampoon spectrum as an underrated flick. There are so many “I know that actor!” moments, some great laughs, and almost too much ’90s vibe to handle it.

And it’s got this memorable poster that does our 16th President a great honor:

Intermission!

• I love the kooky credits font with its sideways Es
• The obligatory trip through the high school courtyard so we can identify all of the different cliques
• “Pull, Wanda, pull.”
• “Everybody’s dead, man. Nuclear annihilation.”
• Renner’s hairstyle is so so bad, and so so ’90s
• Man, I hope High on Life’s song is on the official soundtrack!
• The “let’s calm down” super-old teacher
• The headbangers at the assembly
• Those are some monstrously huge CRT monitors
• The crossing guard trying to kill kids
• Dag’s jeep has the steering wheel on the right side
• I love how all of the teachers at this school are like 100 years old
• If you’re going to throw a party on senior skip day, do it at the principal’s house
• Fat dude eats the principal’s fish
• All of the seniors lamely going “surprise! happy birthday…” when the principal comes in
• TEEN PREGNANCY — IT’S NO JOKE
• The kids riffing the movie, MST3K-style
• Dag holding the flag around him and grinning so wide
• Haha remember when liking Star Trek made you a nerd beyond all nerds?
• The Star Trek cutouts and bridge mock-up
• The bus driver spinning out the bus is pretty funny — and then it’s Tommy Chong!
• “Opening shuttle bay doors”
• And the crossing guard brings “Uhura” along as a mannequin
• So much flannel in this movie’s wardrobe
• Random racist fantasies. Thanks for making everyone uncomfortable, movie.
• “Pop quiz, hot shot” Speed reference
• “The magic word’s Rock and Roll, man!”
• The little kid pulling a pistol on his mom
• “Heroin, huh?” “Insulin.”
• On Lisa’s list of Dag’s good qualities: “I could control him”
• “He’s my pretty little principal!”
• “STEADY AS SHE GOES”
• What kind of medieval hotel is this?
• “You people don’t deserve Kennedy!”
• How’s he playing the piano?
• GOAT
• Aaaand the President leads a slow clap