National Lampoon's Klassenfahrt

Invited to meet the President of the United States, a group of high school seniors try to make the bus trip as exciting as possible, much to the anguish of their easily irate principal, in this lively comedy starring Jeremy Renner long before his Oscar nomination for 'The Hurt Locker'. The film is weighed down by heavily stereotyped characters (geek, slob, smart girl, prissy young teacher, etc) and at least a third of the gags backfire, but the ones that work are very, very funny thanks to great comic timing from all concerned. Matt Frewer is particularly energetic as the stuffy principal and Lawrence Dane is perfectly vile as a corrupt senator, while Tommy Chong is a lot of fun playing pretty much himself as the bus driver. There is also a wonderfully uncanny subplot involving a 'Star Trek' fanatic who believes that he has a mission to stop the bus arriving at its destination. The film additionally features two hilarious fake movies: one, a 1950s style film about contraception; the other, a pornographic version of 'Forrest Gump'! Oddly enough, the film does not really offer any real ideas regarding the future of education given that the students are traveling to Washington to discuss such matters, but this is a bubbly comedy first and foremost and an enjoyable one at that with Frewer even nicely learning how to bond with his students along the way.

This movie is one of my favorite comedies. One of the funniest I've ever seen. My favorite parts are where the psycho crossing guard guy who is obsessed with Star Trek is stalking Reggie. It's too bad they don't call movies like these classics, if they did, teenagers would rule the film industry. Check it out. 10/10

As with most films of this type, the movie stands on the shoulders of it's supporting players. The slut, Carla, who immediately checks out the men whenever she walks into the room. The geek, Virus, who plays the piano with his erection. The assassin, Travis, Star Trek fan, manipulator of the young and all around comedy fall guy. These actors are the ones who make us laugh. Not a great film, but when you're drunk, even the principal looks kinda cute (especially tarted up, a la Carla).

National Lampoon's movies always have layers of comedy. There's the surface level gags like fart jokes and people falling over but underneath that there's always much more going on. It's always worth a second or third watch so you can pay less attention to the in-your-face jokes and more attention to what's going on in the background. Senior Trip is no exception. It looks completely stupid but there's a lot going on. It deserves at least 2 viewings.

This movie does not pretend to be good, it's tries to be funny and it succeeds on that. The characters are hilarious, that's what makes this movie so cool. Watch it with low expectations, and you'll have a great time Recommended for teens. That's it. By the way, check out Carla -she's hot!