Boat Trip
By Brian Costello,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Stereotyping, iffy humor in dated, unfunny comedy.

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What's the Story?
In BOAT TRIP, six months have passed since Jerry (Cuba Gooding Jr.) was dumped by Felicia (Vivica A. Fox) after his marriage proposal went horribly wrong, and he's still heartbroken. His best friend, Nick (Horatio Sanz), after running into a mutual friend of theirs who is now involved with a curvaceous Hooters server he met on a cruise, decides that a cruise would be the best way for Nick to have sex and for Jerry to move on. But after an altercation with a man who turns out to be their travel agent, the guys are instead booked on a cruise that is entirely for gay men. Although they are initially horrified and disgusted by the spectacle of men flirting and holding hands with each other while either acting effeminate or speaking entirely in double entendre, their luck changes for the better when Nick's actions inadvertently bring a Swedish bikini team on board, and Jerry is saved from drunkenly drowning by Gabriella (Roselyn Sanchez), the ship's dance instructor. While Nick does his best to "act gay" to put suntan lotion on the Swedish bikini team, Jerry continues to lie to Gabriella to win her over with the intention of being honest when the time is right. As they start to become friends with some of the gay men on the ship, the two begin to lose their homophobia, and their facade begins to crumble when Felicia tracks Nick down and says she wants to marry him. Jerry, with the help of Nick as well as his new friends, must find a way to be truthful to Gabriella, and to be truthful to his heart with his marriage looming and Gabriella on the verge of sailing away forever.
Is It Any Good?
Older generations watching this movie might ask themselves if the ghost of Paul Lynde returned to write the innuendo-heavy one-liners that never stop in this dated and cringeworthy comedy. Younger generations watching it might view the premise of Boat Trip (two randy straight dudes forced to spend four days on a gay cruise) with the same flabbergasted shock that just about everybody now experiences when seeing 1950s movies in which the woman of the nuclear family goes out and gets herself a job.
It's a lazy comedy that goes for the easiest jokes, often homophobic or sexist, and also not funny. Gay men are either prancing, lisping, and effeminate, or else they're only capable of speaking in sexual innuendo. Most of the women in the movie exist to be bubbly, curvaceous, and fond of gratuitous jumping jacks while topless in a bikini. The Swedish bikini team seem forced into the story because someone (or the "target demographic") needed the movie to be "less gay." Their existence is as forced as the attempt to mine a message out of the movie by giving one of the gay men actual depth when he talks of the father who rejected him until Dad realized on his death bed that it's OK that his son is gay because "we are all God's children." This epiphany occurs after over 60 minutes of nonstop jokes in which the stereotypical behaviors of gay men and Sanz's character's overblown overreactions to these behaviors is the punch line. The only moments of actual humor come from Roger Moore, who does, admittedly, say one or two laugh-out-loud bits of dialogue. Overall though, an offensive, obnoxious movie.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stereotyping in movies. How does Boat Trip use stereotyping to mine humor out of gay men? How are nearly all of the women in the movie stereotyped for the sake of comedy?
Some might argue that a comedy such as this one is meant to be "mindless" -- entertaining for entertainment's sake. What do you think? Is this what audiences want after an exhausting day at work, or does it insult the audience's intelligence?
This movie was released in 2002. How might a movie with a similar premise be different if it were released today?
Movie Details
- In theaters: July 17, 2002
- On DVD or streaming: September 30, 2003
- Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Horatio Sanz, Roselyn Sanchez
- Director: Mort Nathan
- Inclusion Information: Black actors, Latinx actors
- Studio: Lions Gate
- Genre: Comedy
- Run time: 94 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: Strong sexual content, language and some drug material.
- Last updated: August 31, 2022
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