Being unemployed (or, as I like to call it, temporarily employment-challenged), I’ve upped my Netflix subscription from the three-at-a-time plan to the five-at-a-time plan and for the past month have been lazing about on the couch, watching DVDs and going through twelve-packs of Coke at an alarming rate.
Today I was in the mood for some stupid, juvenile comedies, and after the DVD marathod I realized that I had watched three movies with the exact same plot. To wit: Two idiots embark on a road trip for thoroughly stupid reasons, wreak havoc along the way, and are chased by people who think they are not, in fact, idiots, but especially talented and brilliant terrorists or criminals.
The movies were: Dumb and Dumber - Harry and Lloyd embark on a road trip to Aspen to return a briefcase to the woman Lloyd has fallen in love with. They are chased by gangsters who want the briefcase because it is full of cash.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America - Beavis and Butt-Head travel across the country in search of their television and getting laid. They get accidentally mixed up in a plot to smuggle a biological weapon and are chased by an ATF agent (played brilliantly by Robert Stack) who thinks they’re evil terrorist masterminds.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - Jay and Silent Bob travel to Hollywood to stop production of a movie about the comic book characters who are based on them, because everyone on the Internet hates them. They get accidentally mixed up in a plot to steal some diamonds and are chased by Federal Wildlife Marshalls for their daring orangutan heist.
I’m pretty sure there must be dozens of other movies with this story. I want to make a list, so post any more you can think of!
Well, deep down inside, it goes further back than that. Dickens’ Pickwick Papers has essentially the same plot. And, if you drop the need for there to be two buddies, you’ve got the Odyssey with essentially the same plot.
Road Trip–Guy accidentally sends video of himself having sex with another woman to his girlfriend so he and his buddies drive to wherever the girlfriend is to get the tape–at least, that’s my vague recollection of the movie. The only scene that really stands out is the diner scene involving the waiter and the pancake. If you haven’t seen it, I sure as hell don’t want to spoil it for you.
Not the same plot as the OP but two films with the same plot as each other-
THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES and WHITE NOISE
Man’s wife dies mysteriously, he has supernatural experiences which yield clues about her death, odd stranger arrives with more clues, confrontation with evil spirits ensues.
[/end hijack]