Nearly 40% of Americans use a road trip as a vacation itself, instead of simply traveling to a far-off destination. Thanks to the sheer vastness of the American landscape, it’s easy to drive through multiple different scenes in the span of a few days. The epic scenery and great stops along the way are sure to make the trips more memorable. But for some, the scenery is lost on them as they’re lumped with a partner they did not necessarily want along on their journey, and thanks to Hollywood, these unlikely pairs make it to our screens.
Blood Is Thicker Than Water
In an effort to get his hands on his late father’s fortune, car dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) discovers that he has an older brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) who is cared for at an institution in the 1988 film Rain Man. He decides to kidnap his autistic brother, who just happens to have savant abilities. What should have been a quick flight back home, soon turns into a road trip that at times goes horribly pear-shaped. While his intentions might at first have been to lay claim to the $3 million his father left to the institution, Charlie and Raymond soon form a priceless bond.
Forget Ghost And Dirty Dancing
Patrick Swayze flexes his dancing muscles on stage as established drag queen star Vida Boheme and is joined by Noxeema Jackson played by Wesley Snipes in the cult classic To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar. The pair decide to take pity on an up-and-coming starlet, Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) as they embark on their cross-country trip to Los Angeles for the next leg in their drag queen pageantry journey. Unbeknown to the threesome, dreams of a brand new set of wheels would be one of the thoughts that plague them as they experience a multitude of adventurous detours, which almost causes them to be late for that epic Los Angeles finale.
When Grandma Comes To The Rescue
Tammy (Melissa McCarthy) finds herself in a tight place when she loses her job, her marriage, and her only means of transport in the box office hit, Tammy. She embarks on an unlikely journey with her grandmother, Pearl (Susan Sarandon), but only because Pearl offers to fund the trip. The trip is meant to be a moment where Pearl and Tammy can create a memory at Niagara Falls which Tammy never experienced as a child, but instead, turns into an epic disaster which at one point forces Tammy to rob a diner in order to bail Pearl out of jail. The trials force the two to foster a strong bond.
If there’s anything that Hollywood teaches us about road trips, it’s that they present the ideal place to form strong bonds with estranged family members and unlikely friendships with those who need it most.