Phil Fisk/IFC Films
"The Trip" follows Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they travel in the north of England.
A sort of improv-comedy travelogue in the form of a mock documentary, "The Trip" follows British actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, portraying somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves, as they ramble about the north of England, supposedly on assignment to review restaurants for The Observer, a British newspaper.
The two friends -- or perhaps rivals, from Coogan's perspective -- visit historic sites associated with Coleridge and Wordsworth, consume expensive and pretentiously prepared plates of rabbit and pigeon, and trade hilarious impersonations of Michael Caine and Woody Allen. To acknowledge yet discount their relationship, the men refer to themselves as "bondless chums," yet they are hardly Bondless: Agent 007 seems always with them, as they imitate Sean Connery, reference Roger Moore, and quote Scaramanga.
When Steve Coogan is asked by The Observer to tour the country's finest restaurants, he envisions it as the perfect getaway with his beautiful girlfriend. ...
Rating: No Rating
Length: 107 minutes
Released: June 10, 2011 NY
Cast: Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, Margo Stilley, Claire Keelan
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writer: Steve Coogan, Margo Stilley
As usual, Coogan is presented as a vain, insecure womanizer, jealous of any attention paid to his co-star, while Brydon is a cheerful family man. "You can't treat your entire life like a Radio 4 panel show," Coogan complains of Brydon's reflexive celebrity mimicry, but fortunately director Michael Winterbottom -- an artist of multiple identities himself -- doesn't entirely agree: His film is at its most entertaining when it indulges Brydon's seemingly guileless absurdity, which contrasts to Coogan's self-conscious, show-off's need for attention.
Edited from a six-episode BBC television series of the same name, "The Trip" offers a continuation of the self-lampooning Coogan/ Brydon comedy show that was a highlight of "Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" (2006), a satire of art and celebrity that may be Winterbottom's masterpiece. (The prolific director's varied filmography also includes "24 Hour Party People," about the Manchester rock scene; "A Mighty Heart," with Angelina Jolie; the frankly pornographic "9 Songs"; and a Jim Thompson adaptation, "The Killer Inside Me," to name a few.)
One's enjoyment of "The Trip" will depend entirely on one's enjoyment of Coogan and Brydon's act; at times, the men sound like bickering spouses. Nevertheless, Winterbottom attempts to glaze the material with a thin coat of purposefulness by giving us glimpses of Coogan's supposedly troubled romantic and family relationships. This dramatic context -- this "character development" -- is an unnecessary distraction, as is the Michael Nyman piano score.
A bonus is the spectacular scenery. I expected "The Trip" to be funny, but I didn't expect it to be one of the year's most beautiful films, thanks to cinematographer Ben Smithard's stunning landscape shots of rolling British hills, crumbling stone walls and sheep-dotted green fields. The result is like the "Days of Heaven" of Brit impressionist movies.
"The Trip" is at the Malco Ridgeway Four.
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