Ride Along: Road Trips in the Movies

Who doesn't love a good road trip--or, even better, movies about them (so you don't have to do the driving)? As the YA romance/road trip movie 'Paper Towns' opens, we look in the rearview mirror at some of our favorites.

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon plan a weekend getaway escape. Two bold women, one fast car, and a shirtless Brad Pitt in a star-making role -- now that's an adventurous ride!  Hope it ends well...  

A comedy classic starring Steve Martin and John Candy making their way home in time for Thanksgiving by any transportation means possible. Hence the title.

Melanie Griffith stars as a crazy spitfire who kidnaps a dull, straitlaced Jeff Daniels and takes him for a wild ride just for kicks. Probably an average weekend for her, but one of epic proportions for him.

In this controversial film, Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are two lovers who go on a traveling murder spree.  The movie is based on a Quentin Tarantino screenplay, which pretty much explains all the violence.

Nominated for four Academy Awards, this road picture stars Steve Carell and Alan Arkin as members of a family driving a seven-year-old girl to a beauty contest... in a big, yellow Volkswagen bus.

In a breakout role, Ben Stiller stars as a man traveling in search of his birth parents. Hilarity ensues in this black comedy also featuring Mary Tyler Moore as you've never seen her before.

Kermit and friends make the trek across America to find success in Hollywood.  And, more importantly, it introduced the world to the catchy “Rainbow Connection.”

What a drag! Fabulous feathered costumes, a great danceable soundtrack, and over-the-top drag queens travel in a tour bus across Australia as they head to a gig in an outback town.

Based on the Jack Kerouac classic about his travels across America, this movie sees Kristen Stewart hitting the road with a bunch of other free spirits. 

In this movie that launched Kate Hudson's career, a teen rock fan and budding journalist played by Patrick Fugit learns what it's like to say, "I'm with the band." This semiautobiographical film is based on Cameron Crowe’s experience as a teenage writer for 'Rolling Stone' magazine.

Drug dealer Jason Sudeikis hires stripper Jennifer Aniston to play the part of a suburban wife and mother so they can bring pot into the country with their fake family. He must’ve been high when he came up with that idea.

What could be more fun for an 18-year-old girl than a road trip to visit colleges…with her overprotective dad? Raven-Simone and Martin Lawrence travel around the country in search of a few laughs.

Two men in a middle-aged rut travel through California' s wine country in this 2004 film that won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. Never have depression, alcoholism and infidelity been so painfully funny.

An elderly and befuddled Bruce Dern travels from Montana to Nebraska to claim the lottery money he believes he's won. And, he gets a nifty hat!

This road-trip movie for the over-40 set stars John Travolta, William H. Macy, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen, all of whom are dealing with midlife crises. They stave off boredom with a cross-country bike ride because why not?

Perhaps the most beloved road-trip movie of all, this one starring Chevy Chase as a bumbling dad who just wants to get his family to Walley World is a country-crossing classic nobody should miss.