"This isn't your typical tour and these aren't your typical tourists," announces special forces veteran Jay Stanka, at the outset of this travel tape made for men with overactive adrenaline glands by men with overactive adrenaline glands. These guys don't go on vacation, they "go on a mission." Their objective? "To have fun and survive." Since Costa Rica currently has no Viet Cong to snipe, Somalians to liberate or Noriega types to kidnap, this means the boys will instead have to settle for bungee jumping, canopy touring, horse riding and sea kayaking. Food is "chow, "hotels are "R and R pads," and the word "wussy" is actually used more than once (a record for a travel tape as far as I know). Of course, I find it horrifying to think a video is out there which will only encourage hordes of shaven-headed Neanderthals to impose their testosterone laden agendas on kinder, gentler societies (can't you guys do your push ups in Ohio, after all?), and yet I occasionally found this program entertaining with its wacky sense of humor (Stanka makes a point of asking women to spread lotion on his obscenely hairy back--they always refuse--while saying to the camera "even barrel chested freedom fighters need a little break now and then"). This adolescent tape for "men with guts" (read: big guts) presents some activities which actually look like fun, even for "girly-men" such as myself. Stanka should learn, however, that real, macho travel filmmakers skip the 20 minute-plus montage of sponsors at the end of the tape, even though these establishments are casually dismissed as the "cushy, foofy side" of Costa Rica. Part Accidental Tourist, part Hormonal Tourist, and about as likeable and problematic as a new recruit, this is marginally recommended (on possible shore leave from my better senses) for military libraries and pretty optional elsewhere. Aud: P. (R. Ray)
Travel on the Edge: Costa Rica
(1999) 90 min. $19.95. Carr Communications (dist. by Tapeworm Video). PPR. Color cover. Vol. 15, Issue 5
Travel on the Edge: Costa Rica
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.