Bad Trip: Eric André’s Odyssey

I’ve followed Eric André for a decade now, though apparently not closely enough. In 2021, he starred in Bad Trip, a hidden camera comedy about two minimum-wage employees who rush up from Florida to New York City on a romantic quest. Chris (André) sees his high-school crush back in town and decides he can’t miss his chance. After a brief, awkward interaction at the smoothie shop where he works (André shows off his hand-in-a-blender gag), she gives him her card. He pursues her up to New York.

It’s a gagfest, Freddy Got Fingered (2001) meets Candid Camera (1948-2014). But André’s charisma and willingness to throw himself in harm’s way meld well with Lil Rel Howery’s straight man shtick (even if Howery does look alarmingly like André’s old co-host Hannibal Buress—then again, that’s part of the joke). They dress up as white women, flee Howery’s in-movie sister to the horror of restaurant patrons, and fake drunken puking at a rural bar.

The real delight is the cast of normal people they meet along the way. At the end, we get a blooper reel. This offers a brief peek into the various reaction everyday human beings have to André’s gross-out comedic stylings. Most respond well, which, in its own way, offers me hope. It doesn’t hurt that a solid chunk of the movie takes place in Trenton, New Jersey. Who doesn’t love New Jersey?

Bad Trip is fun. And that’s what it’s meant to be. If you like André’s show, I can’t see you disliking this. I certainly didn’t.