Good story, Not enough for a whole film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Slacker Mark D'Agastino (Jeremy Renner) is chasing prudish class hottie Lisa and organizes senior skip day party at principal Todd Moss (Matt Frewer)'s house. Class president Steve narcs on them and everybody gets detention. They are assigned to write a letter about the problems with the school system to the President and gets invited to Washington. Moss and new teacher Tracy Milford (Valerie Mahaffey) chaperon the group of misfits on their senior trip with Red (Tommy Chong) driving the bus.This is fascinating to see a really young Jeremy Renner. However there is nothing too compelling about this. There are few laughs. Renner is not the flamboyant type to lead this group in a comedy. It's also interesting to have Nicole de Boer in this with Kevin McDonald playing a crazed Trekkie following the group. I'm not saying this is horrible but it simply doesn't have enough laughs.

With a movie like this you know exactly what to expect and that is exactly what you are going to get. Some raunchy and gross and stupid jokes.This movie was pretty fun to watch when that is what you want to see. I really loved some of the characters they had in the show and I was pleasantly surprised that I ended up enjoying this TV movie and laughing at so much of it, pretty much I enjoyed the movie and jokes all the way through.It's not like most National Lampoons movies now which have gotten really bad it's almost as funny as the old stuff they did back when the brand name was really respected and funny.

Having laughed my backside off while still in my teens, continued to laugh my cheeks off with each subsequent viewing in my twenties and now, at the ripe age of 36, having recently split my sides once more on the first viewing in nearly ten years, all I can conclude is that the viewers who conspired to rate Senior Trip (as i will always know it) so badly were clearly watching the wrong kind of film for them. It's perfectly casted, over-the-top, amusingly written and acted and ticks just about every box you want from an occasionally crass teen-comedy... in fact it ticks most boxes twice, and in bold. Do not let the score deceive you. Like Flight of The Living Dead, this is a film I have shared with at least twenty people over the years, of different ages, tastes, backgrounds, genders and religions - and I've not had a single negative response.

Rating 4.5/5I can't really explain why this film wasn't more successful. I can't help but think it was in part due to the "National Lampoon's" pre-fix that they chose to include. The film centers around Dags & Reggie, two lovable stoners who, after thrashing the principals house, are put on detention with the rest* of the party-goers.... They write an essay to the president, and he sends for them to make a journey to washington to talk to senate about their concerns with education. From the start of the journey, the film comes into its own, and becomes genuinely funnier than most of its ilk. Stand out performances included Tommy Chong as Red the bus driver, Kevin McDonald (of Kids In The Hall fame) as the traffic crossing guard, and Jeremy Renner as Dags. The cast works well together, the only weakness perhaps being Reggie (Rob Moore) whose part oft comes off as over-acted and under-talented, though the plot moves at a nice pace, the jokes come thick and fast (and with a surprising level of subtlety too). A great film to pull out if you and some friends are planning an evening of inebriation and fancy a few good laughs.*(I should really point out right here there were a bunch of people in the party footage that never ended up on the washington trip)