On The Way

On The Way is a 2018 American road trip comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers and stars Thomas Barbusca, Grant Palmer, Jacob Hopkins, Larry David, Kate McKinnon and Seth MacFarlane. It follows three boys who go on a six day trip to get to a funeral, and get followed by a couple who try to kill them.

The film is set for a release in theaters on June 8, 2018, produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Regency Enterprises and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States and by Columbia Pictures, internationally.

This makes the film Columbia's first film with Lucasfilm and first film with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures since Bicentennial Man, including collaborating with Regency since its last film Aloha.

The film then expanded into a franchise, starting with a television special, entitled On The Way: Lost in London, released on January 9, 2019 followed by a prequel to the film, On The Way: One Year Ago, released on May 1, 2020. An animated television series On The Way: The Animated Adventures, was released released on December 6, 2020, on Fox. The film series later gets a computer-animated stand-alone film On The Way: Partners in Crime, released on May 6, 2023. During the year, a video game titled On The Way: The Game released on October 10, 2023. Another animated film based on the series, entitled On The Way: The Animated Movie, which is based on the animated series and is the last film in the film series that released on June 9, 2028, ten years after of the first film. A mobile game On The Way: Florence's App-venture released five years later.

Plot
Living in an closed down apartment, three boys named Lawrence (Grant Palmer), Jake (Thomas Barbusca) and Gillan (Jacob Hopkins) remember the times they were bonding. Later, they get a letter from the elderly Melvin Mendaler (Larry David) saying that they are invited to a funeral of his late brother. They go to the man's home and the elder invites the Boys in. He gives them a box holding a chocolate cake and tells them to deliver it at the funeral in San Francisco, California. They head off to San Francisco on a handmade sidecar (that is made from a bicycle and a shopping cart attached together).

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, a woman named Sylvia (Kate McKinnon), the spoiled and rich millionaire lives in a mansion and has a lover Jack (Seth MacFarlane), who has brought a box of illegal weapons for their trip to Washington, D.C. The boys arrive to their home for directions. After getting the directions to San Fransisco, the Boys leave and take the wrong box, which is the one with the weapons. Discovering the couple had their box switched when they had the one with the cake, they follow them. Later that night, they sleep at a rest stop, where they tell stories and look at the stars. The next day, they continue the trip. Jack and Sylvia drive after them and one of them start climbing out of the car and jump them, though, Gillan throws out a banana peel out and makes their car go off the road, foiling the plan they had. After several backfiring attempts following and trying to steal the box, they try a different plan: shooting them down.

On the third day of their trip, the boys encounter a truck stop. While in there, they order a pie, in which later, it causes a food fight to occur. It stops at the end, where the Boys get their sidecar stolen. Disappointed, they continue the trip on foot. After walking for countless hours, they encounter an abandoned motorcycle. After driving non-stop for 19 hours, they run out of gas. Now, they start to hitchhike. A van stops and the driver takes them on their trip to Comic-Con in San Diego. After they arrive, they interrupt announcements in panels, attendances, etc. Some time later, the convention closes at night and the boys hide and wait until morning. The next morning, the Boys wake up, then came out from their hiding spots and get separated by many crowded people. The unexpected Sylvia and Jack arrive at the convention to kill the Boys. When the boys encounter them both and Sylvia with a gun, they split up and run. They go after Jake and Gillan and catch them in an empty panel.

When Lawrence finds Gillan and Jake, he gets joined with them. Jake opens the box, revealing the weapons. Sylvia thanks them and then starts to shoot them, but the C.I.A. arrives, as well as Melvin, who explains that that the funeral was a ruse to arrest the couple and the cake had a tracking chip in it, and had followed the couple since the Boys brought it and accidentally swapped boxes. In the aftermath, Sylvia and Jack are arrested. After all the traveling and suffering they went to, they become irked and distraught all for nothing but to arrest two criminals. They leave on foot, but the C.I.A. retrieved their stolen sidecar and give it back to them. The Boys board their sidecar to the bus and depart back home.

During the credits, post-credits scenes are shown when each actor is shown. Riding home at night, Gillan sings "99 Bottles of Milk on the Wall". Jake then joins in; in jail, Sylvia plans escaping with shovels. Jack says, "What shovels?", which makes Sylvia think of a new plan; the Boys look up and see Melvin in a helicopter. He gives a salute to them and they give one back. After the helicopter leaves, the Boys resume heading home.

Cast

 * Grant Palmer as Lawrence, the handyman of the Boys
 * Sean Giambrone provides the voice of Lawrence
 * Jacob Hopkins as Gillan, the member of the Boys
 * Tucker Albrizzi provides the voice of Gillan
 * Thomas Barbusca as Jake, the founder of the Boys
 * Xavier Mosley provides the voice of Jake
 * Kate McKinnon as Sylvia Marie, the main antagonist and criminal of North America
 * Seth MacFarlane as Jack Derrin, Sylvia's lover and former enemy spy
 * Larry David as Melvin Mendaler, secretly head of the C.I.A. who uses the Boys on the mission to arrest Sylvia and Jack
 * Rob Riggle, Owen Wilson, Josh Brolin and Jonah Hill as the C.I.A. agents
 * Stephen Tobolowsky as Chalmer Phil, a friend of the Boys and who is running the diner in the film
 * Liliana Mumy as the waitress

Cameos

 * David Silverman as himself
 * James L. Brooks as himself
 * Matt Groening as himself
 * Al Jean as himself
 * Daron Nefcy as herself
 * Chris Hardwick as himself

Production
The movie is filmed in the actual Corpus Christi, Texas, as well as San Diego, California, while the diner sequence and the abandoned Castle Manor are filmed at Sony Pictures Studios.

Hans Zimmer, John Debney and John Williams were previously picked for composing the score, but the score composing job was given to Henry Jackman.

The film's animation sequences are provided by Mercury Filmworks.

Sean Ryan Fox was originally cast to be Gillan, however was then recast by Jacob Hopkins.

Mosley decided to have himself Giambrone and Albrizzi lip-sync the the dialogue of the actors playing the Boys.

Release date
The film is set to release on June 8, 2018 in North America, while releasing in other countries on May 18, 2018 and July 20, 2018.

Marketing
M&M's, Pop Tarts and Uber promote the film on television.

The Boys appear on DVD covers with a white background and standing with another character from a different Columbia film, either live-action films in their live-action variants or animated films in their animated variants.

Home media
After the film's release in theaters, it will release on Digital HD on September 25, 2018 and on DVD and Blu-ray on October 16, 2018 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It will include a bonus DVD set entitled, On The Way Presents: On The Set, consisting of behind the scenes featurettes that can also be featured on the Blu-ray version. It also includes animatics on the animated sequences in the film.

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 51% based on reviews from 150 critics; the average rating is 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Almost a mix of The Three Stooges, Dumb and Dumber and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, On The Way makes it an unforgettable road trip adventure." Metacritic gives the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed-or-average reviews".

Accolades
Kate McKinnon receives the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie Actor and Seth MacFarlane receives the Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Star.

Expanding franchise
The film later spawns a television special entitled, Lost in London, released in 2019. Followed by a prequel, One Year Ago, in 2020. The prequel, it was followed by an animated series titled On The Way: The Animated Adventures, that lasted on Fox from December 6, 2020 to May 20, 2035.

Before the series' conclusion, follow-up films were made, but were animated stand-alones, consisting of one computer-animated film titled Partners in Crime, and a hand-drawn film based on the series The Animated Movie, which is the last film in the film series.