The road trip movie is a much-celebrated genre, usually involving amusing (or dramatic) mishaps, detours and bumps along the way. To celebrate this classic film format, here’s a list of ‘alternative’ must-see road trip flicks to add to your collection. ‘Road Trip’ isn’t one of them – it’s far too obvious to make the cut!
1. Little Miss Sunshine
This tale of a not-so-average American family on a journey of self-discovery is as dark and challenging as it is heart-warming and hilarious. It’s full of kooky characters with a lot of heart. An especially great mix of the comic and tragic is found in the character of Frank, brilliantly played by Steve Carell, as a depressed Proust scholar struggling to regain his self-esteem after his lover leaves him.
2. Duel
Never has a truck been more terrifying. Steven Spielberg’s second ever movie pits a travelling salesman against a never-seen nemesis in the form of a homicidal lorry driver. Thrilling fun that will leave you exhausted.
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien
Warning: this one is not for kids. This is the story of two adolescent boys who try to impress an older woman and end up on a sunshine-soaked journey through rural Mexico. Alfonso Cuaron’s direction is incredible, perhaps even better than his work in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
4. The Darjeeling Limited
Wes Anderson’s only film not set in the West, this movie is about a very deliberate road trip that is meant to fix the relationship between three estranged brothers and their mother. Brilliantly ironic, understated, funny and tragic at the same time, it’s full of great performances from Anderson regulars such as Owen Wilson and Angelica Huston, but the landscape itself, that of rural India, steals the show.
5. The Trip
Starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, The Trip makes it onto this list because it’s the rarest of creatures: the British Road Trip movie. Playing exaggerated versions of themselves, Brydon and Coogan drive about Northern England reviewing restaurants, doing impressions, and getting on each other’s nerves. Magnificently quotable.
These movies should inspire you to get behind the wheel and drive off into the sunset – so what are you waiting for? The open road beckons, but just make sure that your Swiftcover Car Insurance policy offers the option of breakdown recovery in case you encounter any engine hiccups along the way!
