BAD TRIP

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Evan B

This film was made in hidden camera style, with the actors performing these bits in front of real people unaware that they were part of a movie. In other words, this film was shot in the same manner as Borat.

The film opens in West Grove, Florida, where Chris Carey (Eric André) works at a car wash. He sees his high school crush, Maria Li (Michaela Conlin). He tries to finish up washing a car so he can say hi to her. Chris asks the (real-life) person whose car he’s cleaning to turn on the carpet vacuum. The vacuum sucks off Chris’ clothes, leaving him completely nude. He is unable to approach Maria because of this. Meanwhile, Chris’ best friend Bud Malone (Lil Rel Howery) is working at a cell phone repair shop. His crazy sister Trina (Tiffany Haddish) “robs” him in front of the store customers before taking off in her prized pink car nicknamed “Bad Bitch.” Bud is too scared to stop her. Chris and Bud hang out after work and discuss how their lives will change for the better in the future.

One year later, Chris is still working a menial job. He is now employed in a juice bar. Maria walks in and Chris flirts with her before asking her out for a cup of coffee. She politely declines as she is returning to New York City later that day. Before leaving, she explains that she owns an art gallery there and offers to show Chris around should he ever be in the City. Chris misconstrues her offer as a sign of romantic interest. As he daydreams, he sticks his hand in a blender where it is bloodily chopped up in front of the patrons.

Chris and some dancers perform a musical number about his love for Maria in a public park as well as a mall in front of amused bystanders. He finds Bud and convinces him to go on a road trip to New York to find Maria. They take Trina’s car as she is currently in jail. However, Trina manages to break out of jail (with the help of a bystander). Upon finding out that Bud has “stolen” her car, she vows to find and kill the duo.

Chris and Bud stop at a gas station in Georgia, where Chris breaks a gas pump and gasoline spills all over him. They later talk about how Bud’s favorite film is “White Chicks” (in which the Wayans brothers crossdress as white women). Meanwhile, Trina hijacks a police car in front of amused bystanders and flips off people on the highway as she pursues Chris and Bud.

The friends stop at a country-western bar where Chris tries to get Bud to relax and enjoy himself. Chris gets blackout drunk, prays for Bud to be more fun and to have incredible sex with Maria, and stumbled up to the roof of the bar. He tries to lead the bar in a toast but falls off (about 8 feet) into debris below. Concerned bar patrons try to help him. In return, he projectile vomits on them (with fake vomit).

As they cross into North Carolina, Chris begins fantasizing. In his daydream, he walks into a meeting that Maria is hosting (in front of real-life patrons) and the two simulate having sex in front of the crowd. He also imagines them beating up people at a farmer’s market and making out with the priest at their wedding in front of horrified guests.

While debating whether the premise of “White Chicks” could work in real life, the friends decide to go to a zoo. While there, Chris sneaks into the gorilla enclosure (with an actor dressed in a lifelike gorilla costume inside) to get a selfie with the beast (in hopes that the picture will impress Maria). In front of the horrified zoo-goers, the “gorilla” sexually assaults Chris multiple times. Later, they accidentally take drugs (that they think are mints) in Trina’s car. While “tripping,” they harass patrons at a grocery store. Trina meanwhile has humorous interactions with various bystanders she claims are friends with Chris and Bud.

When Chris and Bud awaken from their drug trip, they find themselves nude on a golf course with their penises stuck in either end of a Chinese Finger Trap. They run through the golf course and, later, the nearby city, asking people to help free them. They are even chased at one point by an outraged barbershop patron with a knife. The pair finally go to a Chinese restaurant where they cut the trap off in front of the patrons.

Now in Virginia, the pair stop at a small diner where an elderly waitress gives Chris advice on romance and sex. As they continue through Maryland, Chris gets “electrocuted’ when someone gives the car a jump start. In Pennsylvania, Bud gets diarrhea and gets stuck in a port-a-john.

Trina hands out fliers of Chris and Bud to patrons in a bar and says she will kill the pair once she finds them. After she leaves, Chris and Bud stop by the bar and are warned and mocked by the patrons. Trina returns just in time to see Bud and Chris driving off in a panic. Bud decides to go back to Florida. Chris insists they continue to New York and that Bud needs to stand up to his sister for once in his life. As the pair argue, they crash the car in a fiery explosion in front of shocked bystanders. Chris and Bud continue to argue as the bystanders try to intervene and deescalate the situation. The friends part ways, with Bud telling Chris he isn’t a real friend.

Chris sinks into depression and approaches people on the street that look somewhat like Bud. He goes to a military recruitment table and begs to be sent to the front lines so he can be killed. The recruiter consoles Chris and convinces him to find Bud and apologize. Chris does so, apologizing using grand gestures in front of a bus of delighted onlookers.

The friends, reunited, make their way to New York City. Chris finds Maria’s art gallery. Inside, Maria is explaining to the real-life patrons that the artwork is worth millions. Chris eventually convinces the security guard to let him in so he can profess his love. In front of the gallery patrons, Chris declares his love to Maria. Though flattered, she rejects him as she notes that they don’t even know each other (beyond being acquaintances). Scaring everyone, Trina suddenly drives her vehicle through the wall of the gallery. She attacks Chris and the pair destroy the artworks in front of the horrified patrons. Trina then chases Chris out of the gallery.

Trina pursues Chris to the top of a building overlooking a food truck. She hangs Chris over the side of the building and threatens to drop him. The bystanders plead with Trina not to kill him. Before Trina can drop Chris, Bud appears and she drags Chris back onto the roof. Trina threatens Bud, but he doesn’t back down. Trina embraces her brother, happy that he is finally standing up for himself. Trina punches Bud in the face and says they are now even. Chris returns to the art gallery to apologize, but Maria angrily chases him off in front of the cleaning crew.

To thank Bud for his friendship, Chris and Bud cross-dress as white women and infiltrate a party with wealthy party-goers. There, they see Trina who also is cross-dressing as a white man in order to avoid any police who may be looking for her. In front of the crowd, Chris and Bud dance to DMX’s “Up in Here” as Trina DJs. During the credits, we see alternate takes of the bits and bystanders’ reactions when they realize the situations were part of a movie.

Chris makes it to New York and proposes to Maria. She rejects him, in large part because he caused her art exhibition to be destroyed. That said, the journey helps to solidify Chris' friendship with Bud.