10 Greatest Road Trip Buddy Comedies Of All Time, Ranked

Published Aug 30, 2026, 9:45 AM EDT George is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Beginning as the Co-Creator and Co-Editor of Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X, George went on to develop The HoloFiles, a movie and television-focused website with his brother and writing partner Josh. A member of the Hollywood Creative Alliance, Chicago Indie Critics, Online Film and Television Association, and the Internet Film Critic Society, George has covered major industry events as credentialed media, including D23, CinemaCon, SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Star Wars Celebration, Tribeca Festival, and more. He also regularly writes reviews and contributes articles to ScreenAnarchy, BRWC, Film Obsessive, TV Obsessive, and Under the Radar. George's work has been featured in various esteemed publications, including the BBC, Associated Press, Forbes, and The New York Times. Sign in to your ScreenRant account This Friday, a new road trip buddy comedy starring Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Mason Thames, Kiernan Shipka, and Peter Dinklage hits theaters and reminds audiences how reliable and consistently funny this subgenre of a subgenre can be. Idiots, directed by Macon Blair, follows two down-on-their-luck screw-ups tasked with transporting a wealthy teenager to rehab, only for the seemingly simple assignment to descend into chaotic mayhem. There is a reason buddy comedies have endured for generations. Put two mismatched personalities together, give them conflicting worldviews, and force them to spend an unreasonable amount of time in each other's company, and comedy tends to follow. The best examples turn friendship, irritation, loyalty, and rivalry into a reliable source of laughs, particularly when neither character is quite as competent as they think they are. Road trip movies, meanwhile, come with their own built-in comedic engine. A destination provides a finite end point for the characters, who must navigate endless detours and wrong turns at which a new character or catastrophe presents itself. Combine the structure of a road trip comedy with the combustible chemistry of a buddy comedy, and the result is a match made in heaven. With Idiots just the latest example of how this subgenre of a subgenre has thrived over the decades, now is the perfect time to look back at the greatest road trip buddy comedy movies of all time. 10 Bad Trip Netflix’s Bad Trip follows Chris (Eric André) and Bud (Lil Rel Howery) as they travel from Florida to New York so Chris can pursue his high-school crush, while Bud's criminal sister, Trina (Tiffany Hadish) pursues them along the way. What separates Bad Trip from the other movies on this list is its use of hidden-camera pranks. Akin to the likes of Borat and Bad Grandpa, director Kitao Sakurai’s film makes real people unwitting participants in the comedic duo's increasingly ridiculous journey, giving the movie a chaotic unpredictability that scripted comedy couldn’t replicate. André and Howery make an excellent comedic duo, with Chris's reckless enthusiasm constantly colliding with Bud's more anxious personality. The film can certainly be crude, outrageous, and at times juvenile, but it also tells an unexpectedly sweet story about friendship. 9 Tommy Boy Tommy Boy stars Chris Farley as Tommy Callahan, an irresponsible but lovable heir who must save his family's auto-parts business. His unlikely companion is Richard Hayden, played by David Spade, a sarcastic, tightly wound salesman who would rather be anywhere else. Farley is an extraordinary comedic force by himself, but Tommy Boy is at its best when he and Spade are bouncing off one another and trading blows. Their insults, arguments, physical comedy, and moments of genuine affection give the movie simultaneous frenzy and warmth. Like most of the films on this list, the road trip itself serves as the means by which two unlikely characters develop an endearing friendship. Farley and Spade are forced to confront one another's worst qualities while gradually they come to recognize their best ones. The result is one of the defining buddy comedies of the 1990s. 8 Sideways Perhaps the most unconventional entry on this list, Alexander Payne’s Sideways is technically a road trip movie, albeit decidedly different than most. In the film, Paul Giamatti plays Miles Raymond, a depressed writer and wine enthusiast who takes his old friend Jack, played by Thomas Haden Church, on a pre-wedding getaway through Santa Barbara wine country. Miles is neurotic and pessimistic, while Jack is irresponsible, impulsive, and considerably more interested in enjoying his final days of bachelorhood than contemplating the meaning of life. The humor in Sideways is more understated than other road trip buddy comedies, which imbues Payne’s film with a certain groundedness and authenticity. Payne’s sharp writing deftly blends this humor with emotion and, in turn, creates a film both deeply authentic and refreshingly unpretentious. 7 Idiots Image via Independent Film Company Macon Blair's Idiots arrives as the most contemporary addition to a long tradition of road trip buddy comedies. Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson Jr. play two struggling drivers hired to transport a wealthy teenager, played by Mason Thames, to rehab. Predictably, the assignment goes spectacularly wrong. Although Idiots (formerly titled The Shitheads) follows the same structure of other movies on this list for much of its runtime, Blair’s film creates an identity of its own by coupling its road trip antics with a darker, more subversive edge. This edge give ways to unexpectedly poignant commentary about the ways in which the wealthy live life without fear of ramifications, while the poor are made to reckon with them. Dave Franco’s nonchalant, drug-abusing mess-up and Jackson Jr.’s uptight, rule-following religious man contrast one another well, while Mason Thames’ detestable turn as a troubled teen adds an interesting third element that changes up the structure of a road trip buddy comedy. 6 Due Date Todd Phillips' follow-up to The Hangover borrows heavily from movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, yet overcomes its lack of novelty with a duo of stellar comedic performances and an abundance of great gags. Robert Downey Jr. plays Peter Highman, an architect desperately trying to get home in time for the birth of his child. Zach Galifianakis, meanwhile, plays Ethan Tremblay, the bizarre stranger who becomes Peter’s reluctant travel companion after a series of unfortunate events leaves them traveling across the country together. The incompatibility of Peter and Ethan’s personalities lays the foundation for a vibrant back-and-forth that consistently delivers laughs. Peter's growing frustration provides the straight-man energy, while Galifianakis' Ethan continually finds new ways to make an already terrible situation considerably worse. Due Date also takes full advantage of the emotional possibilities of the subgenre, gradually turning a pairing based on mutual irritation into something rather endearing. 5 Dumb & Dumber Few road trip movies have ever been built around characters as magnificently ill-equipped for a journey as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in the Dumb & Dumber movies. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels play the titular idiots, two friends who travel from Providence to Aspen after Lloyd becomes infatuated with Mary Swanson. What follows is a glorious parade of bad decisions, misunderstandings, accidental crimes, questionable fashion choices, and some of the most quotable comedy of the 1990s. The brilliance of Dumb & Dumber lies in the fact that Lloyd and Harry aren't just stupid as individuals - they actively make one another less intelligent. Their friendship operates according to its own bizarre internal logic, and neither seems capable of recognizing when the other has proposed an obviously terrible idea. Despite the somewhat juvenile nature of the humor and the lead performances, the film excels due to the affection the titular characters have for one another. Beneath the toilet humor and cartoonish stupidity is a surprisingly sincere friendship between two guys who would follow each other almost anywhere. 4 Midnight Run One of the more underrated movies in the illustrious filmography of Robert DeNiro, Midnight Run triumphs with clever dialogue, brisk pacing, and brilliant on-screen chemistry. The film stars De Niro as Jack Walsh, a bounty hunter hired to bring accountant Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas, played by Charles Grodin, from New York to Los Angeles. The problem is that the FBI, the mob, and other bounty hunters all want Mardukas, turning a cross-country trip into a race against multiple pursuers. The verbal sparring between DeNiro’s perpetually irritated Jack and Grodin’s deadpan The Duke is razor sharp and far cleverer than the back-and-forths that characterize most of the films on this list. In blending crime thriller with road trip buddy comedy, the film balances high-stakes and genuine warmth as the two men gradually come to respect one another. 3 Thelma & Louise Thelma & Louise is not a traditional comedy, but it absolutely belongs in any serious conversation about the road trip buddy comedy subgenre. Ridley Scott’s willingness to explore friendship, rebellion, danger, and tragedy within the confines of a road trip comedy gives the genre a dramatically different dimension. The film stars Geena Davis as Thelma, a sheltered housewife, and Susan Sarandon as Louise, her more experienced and fiercely independent friend. Their weekend getaway becomes a flight from the law after a violent encounter changes everything, sending them on a journey through the American Southwest. Considered a landmark of feminist cinema, Thelma & Louise stands apart on this list as the only film whose buddies are women. Scott and screenwriter Callie Khouri take full advantage of this departure from the norm by depicting an empowering journey of two women’s self-liberation. While the humor is solid and character-driven, the film’s greatest success comes in the form of its titular characters, both of whom transform their constrained lives by becoming active agents of their futures. 2 Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle fuses buddy comedy, road trip comedy, and stoner comedy into one, resulting in one of the 2000s’ most memorable comedies. John Cho and Kal Penn play Harold Lee and Kumar Patel respectively, two friends whose late-night craving for White Castle sends them on a bizarre journey filled with drug dealers, cops, raccoons, an escaped animal, Neil Patrick Harris, and essentially every other obstacle imaginable. The film is unique in defying stereotypes and having actors who are people-of-color anchor a story that does not always use race as the sole butt of the joke. Harold and Kumar are two ordinary, flawed, distinctly American men, who don’t always make the best destinations in their desperate pursuit for some sliders. The humor is absurd and bizarre, Cho and Penn are ridiculously likable leads, and underneath it all is a beating heart about two friends whose genuine care and love for another balances out their contrasting personalities. 1 Planes, Trains And Automobiles The pinnacle of road trip buddy comedies is Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a film that should be a yearly watch every Thanksgiving for anyone reading this list. The film stars Steve Martin as Neal Page, an uptight advertising executive desperately trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. On his arduous journey, Neal is joined by John Candy’s Del Griffith, an endlessly talkative shower-curtain-ring salesman. Along the way, the two encounter delays, missed connections, uncomfortable hotels, rental-car disasters, and just about every conceivable travel nightmare. Through it all, Del's relentlessly cheerful personality drives Neal insane. John Candy’s relentlessly cheerful personality juxtaposed with Steve Martin’s ever-escalating frustration lays at the center of an array of hilarious set-pieces, line deliveries, facial expressions, and more throughout the film. But where Planes, Trains and Automobiles triumphs more than any other film on this list is through its third act discoveries, which reveal that Del's irritating optimism hides his loneliness. What begins as an odd-couple comedy eventually becomes an exceedingly heartfelt story about two strangers who unexpectedly need one another. To top it all off, a superb soundtrack, anchored by Modigliani’s “Lost in Your Eyes,” perfectly captures the feeling of 80s movies and contributes significantly to how emotionally resonate Neal and Del’s journey is. Idiots Release Date August 28, 2026 Runtime 100 minutes Director Macon Blair Writers Macon Blair, Alex Orr Producers Dan Reardon, David Gordon Green, Alex Orr, Danny McBride, Dave Franco, Jeremy Saulnier, Jody Hill, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Brandon James, Nathan Klingher At rock bottom, two reluctant partners take on a job transporting a troubled, rich teenager to rehab for a dubious service.