National Lampoon's Senior Trip

National Lampoon's Senior Trip
Directed by	Kelly Makin
Produced by	Wendy Grean Peter Morgan
Written by	Roger Kumble I. Marlene King
Starring	Matt Frewer Tara Strong Lawrence Dane Jeremy Renner Rob Moore Eric Edwards Tommy Chong Kevin McDonald Danny Smith Michael Blake
Studio	Alliance Films
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	September 8, 1995
Running time	91 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$4,686,937 (Worldwide)

National Lampoon's Senior Trip is a 1995 teen movie directed by Kelly Makin.

Plot

The film follows the story of a group of rude and obnoxious seniors from Fairmont High, an Ohio high school. After a typing class, the seniors cut school and throw a party at the home of Principal Moss (Matt Frewer). When he returns home, he gives the class detention, forcing them to write a letter to the President of the United States, explaining what is wrong with the education system.

Amazingly, the President enjoys it, and invites the class to Washington to discuss it. However, it is actually just a plot devised by a corrupt U.S. Senator to humiliate the President.

Upon their journey, the class stops in a convenience store where Mark "Dags" D'Agastino (Jeremy Renner) and Reggie Barry (Rob Moore) lock Principal Moss in a flooded convenience store toilet so they can steal alcohol from the store. They are followed by Travis (Kevin McDonald), a crazed Star Trek fan and crossing guard, who hitches a ride with an Asian family.

While on their way, Principal Moss falls into a "coma" after taking pills given to him by Red (Tommy Chong), the bus driver and "Dope King". At this point, the students go on a rampage and throw another party, while Carla Morgan (Tara Strong), the school slut, puts makeup on the sleeping Principal Moss.

The next morning, the bus is pursued by both Travis and the police. Red suddenly dies, apparently from a drug overdose, and the bus nearly plows into a lake. Dags manages to stop it in time, but Travis's ride is not so lucky. In the confusion, Travis escapes.

Arriving at Washington, a class photo taken at a cemetery goes wrong when Miosky (Eric Edwards) blows out Edgar Hoover's flame via fart lighting, catching Travis on fire in the process. That night, the seniors secretly lace a box of chocolates with tequila and give it to Miss Milford (Valerie Mahaffey), subsequently leaving and going to a party at a hotel while Miss Milford seduces Principal Moss in a drunken stupor. In the process, Lisa Perkins (Fiona Loewi), discovers the plot to use the students to embarrass the President.

When Principal Moss and Miss Milford find the missing students the next morning, they are informed of the plot. The senator's agents subsequently kidnap Miosky and take him to the White House with the others in hot pursuit.

When they arrive at the White House, the senator insults the seniors, but Principal Moss unexpectedly stands up for them. The senator's plot is ultimately exposed, and the seniors go home. The film ends with a montage of the characters and where they ended up after the events of the film.

Characters

• Principal Todd Moss: A nerdy, unassertive principal who's constantly underminded by the students, especially Dags and Reggie, who do everything from inadvertently smash into a flag pole which lands on his new Buick to throwing a senior party at his home.

• Miss Tracy Milford: The new, sexually repressed keyboarding teacher who's a bit naive regarding the students' motives and activities.

• Dags and Reggie (real names: Mark D'Agostino and Reggie Barry): Two drug addicted underachievers who are constantly getting under Principal Moss's skin and are always looking for a way to throw a subversive party.

• Virus (real name: Barry Kimmer): The perverted, porn-obsessed computer nerd who has a very low tolerance for alcohol.

• Carla Morgan: The provocative, attractive, promiscuous party girl.

• Steve Nisser: The preppy, stuck-up student body president whom Principal Moss assigns to spy on Dags and his friends' activities.

• Lisa Perkins: The class brain and goody two-shoes who eventually develops a relationship with Dags.

• Wanda Baker: The reserved and reticent headcase; Reggie's pot-smoking counterpart.

• Meg Smith: The token lesbian.

• Herbert Jones: A politically incorrect cynicist and antisocial bookworm who is always dressed in black and is an aspiring musician.

• Miosky: Obese eating machine and party animal.

• Red: The constantly stoned, drug addict bus driver.

• Travis Lindsey: The idiosyncratic, Star Trek-fixated loner whose entire goal is to "intercept and annihilate the Klingon leader"-i.e. Reggie who earlier insults him in the beginning of the film.

Cast

• Matt Frewer as Principal Todd Moss
• Valerie Mahaffey as Miss Milford
• Lawrence Dane as Senator John Lerman
• Tommy Chong as Red
• Jeremy Renner as Dags
• Rob Moore as Reggie
• Eric Edwards as Miosky
• Kevin McDonald as Travis
• Micheal Blake as Herbert
• Tara Strong as Carla Morgan (credited as Tara Charendoff)
• Nicole de Boer as Meg Smith
• Sergio Di Zio as Steve Nisser
• Fiona Loewi as Lisa Perkins
• Kathryn Rose as Wanda
• Danny Smith as Virus
• Lori Alter as Shirley
• Jack Jessop as Mr. Bloom
• Kay Tremblay as Mrs. Winston
• Jack Newman as Larry Diplo
• Simon Sinn as Mr. Woo
• Grace Armas as Mrs. Woo
• Daniel Lee as Wong Woo
• Paris Chong as Pablo
• Carol Ng as Du Mi Wong
• Wayne Robson as Frank Hardin
• George R. Robertson as President Davis
• Rachel Wilson as Teen Girl in Film - Susie
• Philip DeWilde as Teen Boy in Film - Fast Eddie

Cast Trivia

• This was (then-future) Oscar-nominee Jeremy Renner's feature film debut.

• DJ Qualls, best known for movies The New Guy and Road Trip had a one-second and uncredited cameo during the assembly scene near the beginning of the film.

• Paris Chong was in the film portraying the character Pablo. Paris is the son of Tommy Chong, who is also in the film as Red the bus driver.

• Nicole de Boer would later go on to play Ezri Dax in the seventh and final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Reception

Box Office

The film opened to $2,184,901 from 1,397 theaters with the average to 1,563 per site. The United States had $3,686,337. It was 78% of the total gross of this movie. The overseas gross was $1,000,600. This brings the movie to $4,686,937.

Critical response

National Lampoon's Senior Trip received overwhelmingly negative reviews, earning a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes website. However, it currently holds a B grade at Yahoo! Movies.

External links

• National Lampoon's Senior Trip at the Internet Movie Database
• National Lampoon's Senior Trip at AllRovi
• National Lampoon's Senior Trip at Rotten Tomatoes
• National Lampoon's Senior Trip at Box Office Mojo