Eurotrip

Two lines give the measure of ‘Eurotrip’, in which four US high school graduates cross the Atlantic in search of ‘sweet sexy European ass’: ‘Europe is officially the worst country on earth’ and ‘England’s an island.’ Both had me chortling – but only one was meant to. Whatever else, ‘Eurotrip’ is good value for money, seemingly for producers as well as punters, since scenes set in locations as diverse as Ohio, London, and, surreally, Slovakia, were all filmed in the Czech Republic. Inspired by the striking idea that ‘America was founded by prudes’ appalled by all the ‘crazy European sex’ we’re having, our American friends set out having more in common with Houellebecqian sex tourists than the Jamesian innocents of ‘Le Divorce’. Condemned to repeat their forebears’ rejection of Catholic Europe, they end the film humiliating the pope himself. This is the National Lampoon Griswold saga continued by other means. Not for the faint-hearted.