‘Senior Trip’ Will Make You Wish You Were Watching Another Movie

“National Lampoon’s Senior Trip,” which deserves to be the last gasp of this threadbare comedy series, sends a group of high school burnouts from Ohio to Washington, D.C., where they are supposed to be helping the president enact an education reform bill and representing the flower of America’s youth. Since the kids are so predictably bad, no good can come of this plan, as the film cranks out its mix of druggy humor, frat-style partying and bedroom farce.

The biggest names in “National Lampoon’s Senior Trip” are Matt Frewer, who plays the (surprise!) buffoonish principal, and Tommy Chong as the hippie relic who drives the group’s school bus. Otherwise, there seem to be no stars of the past, present or future in evidence. But if any of the actors playing slatternly schoolgirls or nerdy schoolboys should hit it big, this is a credit to leave off the resume.

The roles here are so familiar and generic that this becomes the rare film in which Pauly Shore would be an asset; better to see his version of a sly doper than to watch an imitation. There’s also a big, clownish character who will make audiences miss John Belushi and John Candy and remind them that there’s more to being funny than being slovenly or overweight. Among other highlights: a character who acts out “Star Trek” using cardboard cutouts and an inflatable party doll, and a scene in which students fail to notice that their typing teacher has dropped dead.

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“National Lampoon’s Senior Trip” Location: North Division and Showboat cinemas Credits: Directed by Kelly Makin, starring Matt Frewer, Valerie Mahaffey, Lawrence Dane, Tommy Chong, Jeremy Renner, Rob Moore, Sparky Edwards and Kevin McDonald Running time: 1:34 Rating: R