You know there are movies that make you laugh, and then there are movies that make you laugh in spite of yourself, like your body refuses to hold it in no matter how hard you try. Bad Trip falls right in the middle of that chaos. Watching it felt like being thrown into this reckless carnival ride where you don’t know whether to hold your stomach from laughing too hard or cover your eyes from sheer embarrassment. The thing is, it isn’t your typical comedy. It’s a hidden-camera, prank-style road trip that somehow manages to stitch an actual love story and a friendship arc into one long string of outrageous public stunts. And sitting through it, I kept asking myself: how do they get away with this? And why does it hit so hard?
The movie starts with Chris (Eric André), a guy who’s pretty much a lovable loser. He’s working at a car wash, nothing glamorous, when he bumps into Maria, this beautiful girl he had a crush on back in high school. And in that moment, he feels this rush of “this is it, this is my chance.” And what happens? Boom. He gets literally sucked into the vacuum cleaner. That’s the kind of ridiculousness the movie kicks off with — not even subtle, just straight-up humiliating comedy. And the best part is that everyone around — all real people who have no clue it’s a movie — are standing there watching this guy get obliterated by his own crush in the most embarrassing way possible. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just going to be silly, it was going to be raw and messy.
Enter then Bud (Lil Rel Howery), the best friend of Chris. This madness is supported by their friendship. Chris decides to visit Maria in New York where she operates an art gallery and confess to her. Naturally he does not own a car and a plan. However, Bud has a sister, Trina (Tiffany Haddish, and my God she is so terrifyingly funny) who has a car, a glittering pink car with the name Bad Bitch etched in it, so they steal it when her sister gets herself into jail and follow this wild idea. That’s where the trip begins.
Each spot along the road is anarchy. Similar to that nightclub scene in which Chris gets drunk and decides to go crazy. He finds himself naked, literally stripped running round and those in the bar, all ordinary people, are completely horrified. Others are laughing in fear, others are putting their hands over their eyes and the entire affair borders on being upsetting and laugh outright. I kept on thinking as I watched it: had I been there in the bar would I have fled to the door or would I have sat there trying not to knock out my drink?
Then, there is the scene in the zoo and I must say it is one of the most eye-opening scenes I have ever witnessed in a comedy. Chris gets into a cage filled with gorillas to impress a girl and what occurs? The gorilla literally destroys him. And not even in a manner you expect - it becomes this sick-squeezing, graphic, oh-my-God-why-am-I-seeing-this series in which it seems like the gorilla is, in fact, doing something to him. And the shot is shot off to the terrified audience in the zoo, mouths agape, parents shielding the eyes of their children. I laughed, and was half-ashamed of myself. It is vulgar, it is outrageous, and yet you are unable to take your eyes off it.
Bud has his own humiliations along the way, too. One of the funniest yet most uncomfortable scenes was when they get into this Chinese restaurant, and Chris suddenly bursts into a full-on musical number about his love for Maria. It’s loud, dramatic, over-the-top, and everyone in the restaurant just freezes, staring like “what the hell is happening?” That’s when you realize the genius of Bad Trip — the comedy isn’t just in the scripted lines but in the real reactions of real people caught in madness they never signed up for.
And then Tiffany Haddish, my God, she takes the entire show. Being Trina, the former con sister, she is a powerhouse. She breaks out of prison when she learns that they have stolen her car and proceeds to become the full-fledged Terminator. She rushes into barbershops, convenience stores and gas stations screaming at strangers to tell her about Chris and Bud. And how ordinary people treat her? They are terrified. Some attempt to soothe her, some simply do not want anything to do with her, and some even attempt to stand up to her. She is so unpredictable, that she may easily swing a punch at anyone and that is what keeps you addicted. Frankly speaking, when she appeared on the screen, I had this nervous excitement, as though I were saying, what she will next do?
There was one particular scene, however, that has actually made me stop and think, and this involved Chris hanging off the side of a building, desperately clinging on as he screams at the top of his lungs and Bud attempts to rescue him. Anybody on the street below, the actual, innocent passers-by, is panicking, screaming, some even attempting to assist. You momentarily lose the fact that it is a comedy and experience the true dread of the faces of the people. and then, just as it would shatter you, they drag it again out of the absurd, and you are laughing again at the shock of it. It is this persistent alternating horror/hilarity that makes the movie so addictive.
And behind all the mess about, it was the heart. Chris is not a reckless person laughing to get away, he is out rightly seeking love. Bud is not simply trailing behind, he is attempting to protect his best friend. Trina is as wild as she is but she feels like part of the family. Around the time that Chris manages to locate Maria, and he embarrassingly spills his heart out, you get to understand that there was more than pranks over this rollercoaster. It was all about friendship, devotion and the absurdity of making crazy decisions when you desire something.
I believe that the most striking thing to me was the weakness of comedy. So, you are literally watching these guys take their own hits in the street, and run the risk of being punched or arrested, or even killed, all just to laugh and have a story. And in a bizarre manner, it reflects life, in that most of us evade doing something, fearing to appear daffy. Bad Trip turns that terror on its head and punches it in the face:Yes, this is what it looks like to be stupid but you will live and possibly even enjoy it.
At the credits, I was not only laughing but I was almost thinking. There is something oddly uplifting about the two friends coming through the toughest and weirdest circumstances together, despite all the gross-out jokes and the mayhem. It made me think back to those moments in life when everything goes into a spin and you become embarrassed, humiliated, even scared, yet the people who remain on your side during this uncontrolled situation are the ones you end up being thankful to. It is what makes it all bearable.
Nah, Bad Trip is vulgar, outrageous, beyond the excess, the extreme. It is also one of the most raw, as well as human comedies. It made me ponder on fear, friendship and how an awful bad experience in life can sometimes become the best story you will ever get to tell.