20 Stellar Road Trip Movies To Help Start Your Summer
Summer is here, and the heat is on to find the perfect film to set the tone for the season.
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Luckily, I've got you covered, as there's no better kind of movie to get you pumped for sun, sand, and adventure quite like a road trip movie. With this in mind, I've assembled 20 terrific highlights of the road trip subgenre to kick off your summer just right, regardless of whether you're a comedy fan, a horror buff, or a drama movie diehard.
1.National Lampoon’s Vacation
This classic, franchise-launching comedy starring Chevy Chase follows the Griswold family as they embark upon a cross-country vacation in which everything that can go wrong, does.
2.Plan B
Directed by Natalie Morales, Plan B is the story of two teenage girls who encounter drug dealers, crushes, and their own personal revelations as they venture from their sleepy town to Rapid City in search of a "Plan B" pill.
3.The Devil’s Rejects
Rob Zombie's gruesome sequel to House of 1,000 Corpses expands upon that film's universe while flipping the character dynamics on their head by sending them on the road while evading a sadistic lawman.
4.Dog
Channing Tatum headlines this heartwarming comedy about an injured former soldier who is assigned to accompany a troubled dog on a road trip to his fallen comrade’s funeral.
5.Nebraska
This poignant black-and-white film follows a middle-aged man and his elderly father who confront their complicated past and present when the former drives the latter from Montana to Nebraska to claim a sweepstakes prize.
6.Road Trip
The breakout film for director Todd Phillips, this outrageous throwback to ‘80s sex comedies parlayed the momentum of American Pie into this flick about the misadventures of four college students who must cross the country to retrieve an accidentally mailed sex tape from a one-night stand.
7.My Own Private Idaho
River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves are absolutely incredible in Gus Van Sant's state-crossing (and, eventually, globetrotting) journey of a narcoleptic hustler and his rebellious son of a politician in search of answers to life's mysteries, both existential and otherwise.
8.The Long Dumb Road
Spider-Man: Homecoming's Tony Revolori and The League's Jason Mantzoukas are an inspired pairing in this hilarious, irreverent, and oddly touching tale of a straight-laced photographer and an unpredictable mechanic who begin upon a spontaneous bonding trip while traveling from Texas to Los Angeles.
9.Carriers
This underrated horror offering starring Chris Pine follows four survivors of a viral pandemic attempting to avoid infection, violence, and paranoia while driving through a bleak, post-apocalyptic Florida.
10.Little Miss Sunshine
A sleeper sensation among critics and audiences alike, this dark comedy surrounds a dysfunctional family that reluctantly comes together for an 800-mile road trip after their young daughter qualifies for the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant.
11.A Goofy Movie
Disney's animated cult favorite is a surprisingly endearing story about Goofy and his son, Max, as they attempt to bond on a last-minute cross-country fishing trip, which the latter attempts to manipulate toward a highly anticipated concert.
12.Dumb and Dumber
The Farrelly brothers' beloved comedy follows a pair of dimwitted best friends who attempt to return a briefcase containing ransom money left in Rhode Island to a woman in Colorado, with whom they both fall madly in love.
13.Midnight Run
Arguably the greatest action comedy of all time, Midnight Run surrounds a grizzled bounty hunter and an obnoxious mafia accountant as they run afoul of gangsters, the FBI, and a rival bounty hunter in a cross-country race from New York City to Los Angeles.
14.Kalifornia
Brad Pitt eschewed his "pretty boy" image to play a ruthless serial killer in this pitch-black 1993 thriller about a cash-strapped journalist and photographer that unwittingly welcome a pair of bloodthirsty sadists upon their cross-country tour of infamous murder sites.
15.Smokey and the Bandit
Director Hal Needham and stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed, and Jackie Gleason essentially redefined the "road trip" movie with this all-timer about an illicit beer importer speeding from Texas to Georgia in less than 30 hours.
16.Due Date
This warped modern retelling of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles follows a no-nonsense architect and a flamboyant aspiring actor who find themselves on the road trip from hell while rushing to get the former to the birth of his first child.
17.Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
The feature-length directorial debut of Tim Burton, this unforgettable road comedy follows good-natured manchild Pee-wee Herman as he encounters various eccentric strangers while searching across the nation for his missing bicycle.
18.We’re the Millers
A small-time pot dealer enlists in his misfit neighbors to act as his squeaky-clean "family" while attempting to transport marijuana across the Mexican border to clear his debt in this hilarious recent entry into the road trip film canon.
19.Joy Ride
John Dahl's edge-of-your-seat horror-thriller is about a cross-country trip in which a college freshman is manipulated by his miscreant older brother to prank a murderous trucker, who psychologically and physically targets them on their way to pick up a childhood friend in Colorado.
20.The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Produced by the untouchable Lord and Miller, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is an exceptional animated road film about a family driving their innovative film student daughter from Michigan to California when they are besieged by sentient (and vengeful) AI.
