Best Road Trip Movies!

Let’s have a serious discussion about the road trip film genre. You know the drill: a family piles into an RV or some beat-up sedan and sets off on a journey, only for a pack of rebellious teenagers to tear through half the country, leaving a trail of chaos in their wake. It’s always the same—crossing half the USA in a vehicle that’s probably one pothole away from total mechanical failure.

There is a massive library of these movies out there, so I am curious to hear your thoughts. Which ones actually hold up for you?👍

There’s only one true Road trip, and that’s it.
Everything else is just some road movie—or whatever you want to call them.

I was listening to this podcast the other day where they were saying how much of a shame it is that that whole classic American tradition is dying out.

Back in the day, kids used to just wander across the country—lots of hitchhiking, just messing around, not giving a damn where they ended up. Nowadays, everyone's just terrified. It’s like every stranger is some potential psycho or predator, even though crime rates have actually gone way down.

I was listening to this podcast earlier where they were saying how much of a shame it is that the whole classic road trip culture is dying out in the USA.

Back in the day, kids used to just trek across the country, hitchhiking if they had to, just messing around and not giving a damn where they ended up. Nowadays, everyone is just terrified. Everyone’s a potential psycho or a predator in their eyes, even though crime rates have actually dropped significantly.

I’d toss this one into the category: the Road trip film from 2012—that adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel.
Book purists absolutely hated it, though.
But honestly? I actually liked it... yeah, sure, it’s a bit slow and the pacing drags, but those landscapes, the scenery while on the road, and the nature shots are gorgeous. Plus, the soundtrack is solid and the cast is great (especially Sam Riley and, for me, a stunning Tom Sturridge). I really dug how it captured that almost extinct vibe of young people just living for the moment—chasing freedom, looking for a new way of life, ditching materialism, and just hitting the road through the USA with zero cash, no plan, and nowhere specific to go.