Review of Riding In Vans With Boys: The Movie

Introduction

Following up from a concept contrived by Mark Hoppus & Tom Delonge of Blink 182 fame, Riding in Vans with Boys documents the exploits of an unknown band whom have a reputation not for their ability to make music, but rather for causing mayhem wherever they go! The destructive Kut U Up tag along on the Pop Disaster Tour with big-shot rock stars Blink 182 themselves, as well as Green Day & Jimmy Eat World.

Video

It was shot by amateurs on pretty low-rent equipment, and it shows. That said, it`s very much in the flavour of an episode of Jackass, so it won`t necessarily detract from your enjoyment if you can overlook shoddy presentation in exchange for gritty realism. Some of the night-time shooting was pretty awful & grainy as hell, but these moments were scarce throughout.

Audio

The dialogue is perfectly clear, with plenty of great music tracks narrating the on-screen events, as the idiots get up to all sorts of crazy antics. The track solely descends from the centre-channel.

Features

There`s a pretty entertaining commentary track by principal members of both Blink 182 & Kut U Up, which is basically a good bit of ladish banter with some intelligent oversight being thrown into the mix occasionally.

There`s also range of additional footage, from deleted scenes to movie & interview out-takes, all very brief, and quality-wise, it`s a mixed bag.

Conclusion

A nice idea executed in such ways that will more than likely only appeal to fans of the music, although it does reach out & touches higher waters, rather than just settling to being a rockumentary. Riding in Vans with Boys does extremely well in conveying the contrast in fortunes of both Blink 182 & Kut U Up, as the later repeatedly struggles in the quest for stardom, whilst the former revels in it. Riding in Vans isn`t just another mindless episode of stupid boys with camcorders; it really executed what it sets out to do, and coupled with some pretty decent extras, this effort is refreshing.