The Trip
Review
by Anthony Morris
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The Trip
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When his girlfriend decides to return to America rather than
accompany him on a tour of the UK’s finest rural eateries, Steve Coogan
(Steve Coogan) asks fellow comedian and quasi-friend Rob Brydon (Rob
Brydon) to come on the week-long drive instead.
In between
meals they discuss life, food, Coogan’s not-as-successful-as-he’d-like
career, the history of the landscape they travel through and the
importance of finding someone to love.
Often while doing
duelling impressions of Michael Caine. Director Michael Winterbottom
(who is building on the relationship between the two he put on screen
in Tristram Shandy) layers in enough character material (Coogan's
facing career choices and relationship troubles while the happily
married Brydon seems utterly content with the fame that comes from
doing the “small man trapped in a box” voice) to provide some subtext.
But, really, it's just Coogan and Brydon riffing for 100-odd minutes.
Fortunately, both men are hilarious.
Their
various celebrity voices (they both started their careers doing
impressions) are spot-on, instructive (their duelling Michael Caine
impressions are a virtual history lesson) and character building :
Brydon does them just for fun, Coogan feels he’s above all that but
just can’t help himself.
This is the edited down version of a
six-part UK TV series which is well worth hunting down in its own
right, and while the film version is a little slight for a film, what
more can you ask for from a comedy than being laugh-out-loud funny over
and over again?
Food fans might be disappointed with this as the meals get short shrift.
They'll be the only ones. 4 out
of 5
The Trip
Australian release: 30th June,
2011
Official
Site: The Trip
Cast: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon
Director: Michael Winterbottom
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