If there is one thing South Africa knows it’s that prank films can make loads of cash, no matter how bad they are. After all, we’ve been terrorised by Leon Schuster and his terrible movies for years and despite how silly they are, people keep coming back to the theatres for more. Even though the jokes on them when they realise how much money they just wasted.
Prank movies aren’t exclusively a South African thing, as every country around the globe has people trying to pull jokes on unsuspecting victims that turn their films into massive success stories. Netflix is taking a stab at the genre with a new film from regular prankster Eric Andre titled Bad Trip, which features a variety of extreme antics all in the hope of fooling the unsuspecting public around them.
Now if you thought this would be practical jokes of the Schuster variety, then you aren’t too familiar with Andre’s approach to pranking. The man doesn’t just dress up in drag and try and embarrass people and he isn’t afraid of going all out with massive stunts that put the Jackass actors to shame. Andre brings a genuine shock value to screens, which can be witnessed by this trailer. He’s going bigger than ever, with a fictional narrative sown into all the prank stunts.
Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean funnier and my biggest concern for this movie is that even though most of these gags appear quite elaborate and drawn out, it could still run dry quite fast. Let’s hope they play out better in completion when the film releases on March 27. Bad Trip is directed by the long-time director of The Eric Andre Show, Kitao Sakurai and stars Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish as his partners in crime.
Last Updated: March 5, 2021
