"The feel-good movie of the year" isn't usually said about movies involving gorilla cum but that's exactly what this Gorilla Cum Movie was in 2020.
There are only a few ways to say a movie's funny so I'm not gonna do that cuz 1) I don't wanna spoil any of it and 2) it'll be redundant to keep saying "this was funny," "that was funny," etc. So to get it out of the way: Bad Trip is consistently funny as hell. What I love past that is how it's kind of the anti-Borat. Where that movie's a cynical satire about how dumb and toxic everyone is, this is a weirdly wholesome hidden-camera prank movie that reveals how helpful people are. As a die-hard fan of The Eric Andre Show, where he routinely traumatizes people, I just didn't expect him to make something this sweet and it gave me some much-needed optimism during the pandemic. And I'm happy to say it hasn't lost its edge one bit.
I've danced around calling this 'performance art' because it's not just a prank movie where a man is raped by a gorilla, it's a slice-of-life road trip movie where a calamity man gets, for the most part, everyday people's best side. Well, for the most part.
Eric's a natural provocateur; He gets yelled at, cussed, kicked, threatened, and even has a knife pulled on him at one point (and has to break character to run away). It's funny but it's Eric's usual shtick so it didn't shock me. Instead, I'm taken aback at how most reactions aren't of people being victims to Eric's shit, he's the butt of the joke instead, but they selflessly try to help him out of whatever crisis hole he's deliberately dug himself into - unbeknownst to them, of course. A nurse comes to check on Eric after he falls off of a bar, cleaning ladies comfort Michaela Conlin after a frantic meltdown, and a random patron tries to lift Lil Rel Howery up after he falls into a porta-potty.
There are even scenes where complete strangers have brief bonding moments with each other over their shared experience of Eric, Tiffany Haddish, or Howery's mayhem. It's just so heartwarming to see people being nice, especially in the face of gross-out pranks or Haddish threatening to murder Eric and Rel.
Had this been entirely scripted and staged I'd like it much, much less than I do. I mean, the laughs that this trio get out of me would remain intact, but the frame narrative is as predictable and cliche as any buddy comedy since the '80s. That's by... well, not 'design,' per se, that implies effort: it's a thrown-together boilerplate script and the reason it works so well is because of its formal framework transforming it into something else. The funniest shit in the movie doesn't come from the Cast but from the People. Had they been simple Extras with stock reactions, it wouldn't have even 1% of its charm.
Like there's a wonderful scene where Eric sits next to an older guy on a bench. He needs the thrust of this old-timer's sage wisdom to propel him to take the movie's road trip to find the girl of his dreams. As far as this man knows, Eric is just some guy but, remarkably, he still fills the very role Eric wants him to play and Eric plays off of that. It's pure magic. This is just one example, too, it happens at other times in the movie to various other pedestrians. So not every interaction is Eric doing crazy shit, there are these sweet little bits where he prompts small-talk from random folks (including a funny bit with a waitress where she talks about courting and sex, "genders and genres").
That bench scene transitions to a musical number where Eric performs "I Saw A Girl Today" in the Food Court of the mall he 'works' at. Now, again, usually this would be a rousing scene where everyone joins in to wish Eric well as he goes off to New York in the name of love. But no, everyone's weirded out and even secondhand embarrassed that this bloody-handed maniac is singing about some lady named Maria. This extends to a later scene where Eric and Bud have the typically heavy-handed, dramatic 2nd-act 'falling out,' followed by a big 3rd-act speech where all-is-forgiven. Eric chases down the bus Bud gets on to leave and gives said speech where, again, everyone is caught off guard. Just like the musical number, all of the reaction shots are fucking funny and add to the movie's magic of blending its narrative with Real Life. He takes out what would usually sink a buddy comedy like this: the predictability.
There's even a shot where a girl hides her face because she can't believe how lame Eric is (I cherish this moment).
The Buddy Comedy stuff, like when it's just Eric and Rel by themselves bantering, works too. They have effortless chemistry because they're friends in real life, so you don't have to 'buy' their friendship: it's completely free. Unlike the sentimental stuff in Bad Grandpa that falls completely flat, there's a scene here that anchors the movie. In their hotel, following Chris' stunt at a bar, Chris says he wants to celebrate his best friend Bud and passes out, covered in dried vomit. Bud takes off Chris' shoes before getting ready for bed himself. It feels 'real' because I've been immersed in this as a 'hidden-camera' prank movie. I'm not even distracted by Ludwig Göransson's organ score, I'm even more immersed in what they're aiming for: now I'm the random pedestrian watching this shit play out. It shouldn't work as well as it does but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't.
As I was already pretty smitten with this, the end credits take it to yet another level. The credits are typically where a comedy shows us a blooper reel but, here, they show us everyone's reaction to finding out they're in this movie (or, in some cases, relief that the crises Eric or Haddish put them through has all been averted). It's the most potently wholesome note to end on because it's just hugs and laughter, like watching multiple people react to a surprise party thrown for every one of them.
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