A feature-length defense of the ugly American abroad, Turistas fearfully imagines what can happen when you let your guard down among strangers in a strange land. Josh Duhamel stars as a paranoid American reluctantly chaperoning his sister on a trip to Brazil. When he isn’t shouting at people in the wrong language, he’s worrying about everything, from the drinking water to the leering locals. When the trio’s bus crashes and they are stranded on a suspiciously idyllic beachfront, his fears are proven to be far more justified than even he could imagine. The only thing more appalling than the thieving, murdering Brazilians we come across are the insensitive, intolerant tourists we’re supposed to consider heroes. The movie doesn’t just put you off traveling to Brazil; it puts you off traveling altogether.
