The plot is deceptively simple. It is about a high school graduate that takes a year off from UC Berkeley to travel the world. He finds adventure, interesting people, and beautiful sights. He falls in love, but at the end of the day, his greatest love is his nomadic lifestyle.
Like the message, the movie was about the journey. I saw the beautiful sights and had brushes with death just like the main character did.
There were a few rough edges. The main charactor was believable as a gawky high school graduate, but the acting made me cringe a few times. He was disengaged, passive, and unopinionated. I can't remember more than one expression on his face the whole time. The speech at the wedding was so bloody awful that I wouldn't be suprised if it was the first monolouge that this actor ever did. These small things are death to actors, but being imperfect doesn't mean it was bad.
To his credit, it added a bit to the movie. It made him a stand in for the members of the audience (the Bella in Twilight effect). I could imagine myself in his position.
Now for what made the movie great: It was convincing. The final minutes of the movie were so euphoric that I rearranged my entire life plan. I was high off of the possibilities. For a few moments I considered taking a year off (after college) and traveling the world finding adventure. I would laugh off every obstacle and truly live my life for now. I could make a difference in the world and ultimately make decisions with my own interests in mind, not for others, and certainly not for love. If I lived this life I would be strong enough to live independently, and finally happy. I was going to put a big encouraging sign on my wall saying "Really do it" because anything short of living nomadically is a modern farce of the independence I've always wanted in life. I was convinced.
The euphoria wore off as I polished off the rest of my physical chemistry homework. I have never been a good traveler. Most food makes me sick. I get every type of motion sickness... car-sick, boat-sick, turbulent-plane-sick. Then I realized that most of the fun of traveling is meeting new people. Even before I booked a plane ticket, I realized traveling is not for me and it never was. I had a sad crashing low shortly after.
Any movie that can affect me so viscerally must be doing something right.