Boat Trip

from Film Forum, 03/27/03Nothing good about Gooding's Boat Trip

As if trying to make audiences forget that he ever won an Oscar, Cuba Gooding, Jr. has taken a starring role in another disgraceful comedy. Not only is it the worst-reviewed film in which he has appeared—it may be the worst-reviewed film of the year so far. The star plays a heterosexual man who accidentally ends up on a cruise for gay men and confusion ensues.

Anne Navarro (Catholic News Service) says, "The dismal, one-joke flick strains to be funny, but Boat Trip is actually the Titanic of all dreadful movies. No one comes off looking good in this film—especially writer-director Mort Nathan, who uniformly presents homosexual men as promiscuous airheads. An equal opportunity offender, Nathan also presents women as sex objects. Even the gray-haired granny is a sex-starved maniac, an old, tasteless joke that shows up in only the most vulgar films."

Movieguide's reviewer goes even farther, calling it "one of the most offensive movies of the last 10 years. Though it's slated as a comedy, it is nothing short of a pro-homosexual, "look-how-fun-homosexuality-is" propaganda film." In fact, the film is enough to send the reviewer into a cry for God to personally get involved in moviemaking: "Oh, that God would tear down the lies in Hollywood and rend the heavens to bring His redemptive truths through positive, biblically based, truth-telling, powerful allegorical films!"

Mainstream critics come close to calling on the Almighty themselves in response to the movie. You can read their reviews here.