The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Laughs on the go
Netflix’s ‘Bad Trip’ a fun but pointless hidden-camera affair with three talented comics
First, let me acknowledge that “Bad Trip” — a hidden-camera road-trip comedy starring the talented trio of Eric Andre, Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel Howery that’s just slammed into your Netflix feed — would be best enjoyed late at night, not in the late afternoon with a computer open on your lap.
Ideally, you’d watch it with a few friends and have a few cold ones (if not something, um, more recreational) — instead of riding solo and with only a cup of coffee at your side, as I was while viewing it recently with the sun still up.
Years ago, hanging with some friends from the college days late at night and while having a few cold ones, I was introduced to “The Eric Andre Show,” an Adult Swim parody of a low-budget late-night talk show. Boasting celebrity guests who may — or may not be — in on the joke, the show features its namesake and fellow comic Hannibal Buress performing absurd, boundary-pushing and downright uncomfortable comedy, much of it physical.
It’s not exactly my jam, but I was impressed with the daring performances, Andre’s especially, and the overall wildness of what I saw.
Let me also concede, then, I’ve never seen “Jackass Presents: Bad Grampa,” the 2013 hidden-camera comedy starring Johnny Knoxville that seems to
have served as the main inspiration for “Bad Trip.” “Jackass” just never interested me, but I understand why many find it hysterically funny.
Watching “Bad Trip,” armed with computer and coffee, I found it to be a fairly entertaining ride — if an only occasionally hysterically funny ride — that I suspect won’t stay in my memory for long.
Again, this kind of comedy takes bravery to pull off — to go headfirst into some of these outrageous gags in the presence of real folks who aren’t in on the joke takes real commitment — and pull it off Andre and company do.
For me, though, it pales when compared to the work of Sacha Baron Cohen, who reminded the world of his incredible gift for this type of work last year with “Borat:
Subsequent Moviefilm.” Last month, the sequel to his 2006 “Borat” effort won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
It’s hard to see “Bad Trip” contending for film-industry awards because, unlike
Baron Cohen’s work, it has almost nothing in the way of social commentary. This movie simply is out to have a good time, and it does so.
Its loose premise has best pals Chris (Andre) and Bud (Howery) working dead-end jobs in Florida, and Chris’ sister, Trina (Haddish), released from prison but required to wear an ankle monitor.
As you’d expect, the opening few minutes set quite the tone, with car wash employee Chris having an extremely unfortunate encounter with a vacuum cleaner while his dream girl, Maria (Michaela Conlin), happens to be nearby. (Get ready to truly see Andre here, if you get my drift.)
Meanwhile, Trina pays Bud a visit at the store where he’s working the counter. She shakes him
down for cash and pulls some from the register, and she makes small talk with some customers, saying she likes to mix Pepto Bismol with Hennessy cognac.
“Yeah,” she says, “it’s good.”
She also removes the ankle gizmo and gives a few nearby women some of the cash on her way out the door.
“That’s for you,” she says. “Keep your mouth shut.”
This prologue of sorts — with perhaps the exception of Andre’s backside — is “Bad Trip” at its tamest.
A year later, Chris encounters Maria while he’s working — with remarkably unsanitary habits — at a smoothie bar. She gives him her card and says if he’s ever in New York City, he should visit her Manhattan art gallery.
Time for a road trip! But Chris and Bud have not one car between them, so the former convinces the latter they should borrow Trina’s ostentatious and colorfully named automobile. Even though Bud is terrified of her, she’s now back in prison, so he reluctantly agrees.
Trina soon breaks out, of course, and enraged when she finds out what’s happened, pledging to kill the lads and hitting the road herself in a borrowed vehicle.
As the three crawl up the East Coast in two cars — the boys have four days until the gallery’s new show opens — they make various stops and have multiple encounters with the unsuspecting.
Sometimes, the scenarios cooked up for “Bad Trip” are relatively clever and/or laugh-out-loud funny. At others — such as an encounter Chris has with a gorilla at a zoo — are so filthy that they feel merely sophomoric. (Relatedly, I immediately should have recognized the unfortunate payoff that would come from Chris’ purchase during the trip of a Chinese finger trap. Come on, guys.)
Because Howery (“Get Out,” “Good Boys”) often must play the straight man during gags, the comedic skills of Andre (“Man Seeking Woman”) and Haddish (“Girls Trip,” “Like a Boss”) are most on display. However, all three are, at times, hilarious.
Kitao Sakurai, who’s worked with Andre on his aforementioned namesake show and along with Andre gets a screenplay and a story-by credit, deserves praise for helping to pull off all the madness.
As you’d hope, you get a window into how they pulled some of the sequences off when the movie’s end credits roll, and you appreciate it all even a little more.
Well, maybe not the gorilla scene.