(2003)
2
Jeremy Wheeler
Unfunny and without a brain in its head, Boat Trip is yet another embarrassing notch in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s post-Oscar career. A complete mess from beginning to end, this one fails at every level (and not even in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way). From the script all the way to the performances, it seems no one ever stopped to think about what kind of dreck they were making. The plot is ludicrous enough, but when matched with the utterly amazing lack of humor, it comes close to becoming bad filmmaking art. As if on an out-of-control train, the cast try everything they can to save this sucker, but little do they know how much worse they're making things. Cuba's still in his overacting ham mode the entire time, while Horatio Sanz runs around yelling and screaming about how he's not gay (which ends up figuring into one of the worst plot twists of the film). With nightmarish attempts at gross-out comedy to double-entendres popping up virtually every other line, Boat Trip tests even the most hardened bad movie lover. When it comes down to it, if it's offensive to the gay population in any way (which for most, it was, considering the backlash -- which ends up being ironic since most of the gay characters in the film are the strongest overall), it's equally just as repellant to the rest of the movie-going audience that has to endure it. When done right, a movie can be outlandish, but still funny at the same time -- when done wrong, it becomes personally disgraceful and sloppy at the very best. Interesting only in it's blatant flaws, Boat Trip should've been sunk long before it hit the theaters.
Boat Trip on AllMovie
Boat Trip (2003)
