Two middle aged men on a trip around England’s finest
restaurants while one of them goes through a midlife crisis, cut down to
a film from a five part series...oooh where do I sign up?
It helps if the two men in question are two of
England’s finest comedians. They are allowed to adlib as much as they
want and that they are playing caricatures of themselves.
That’s The Trip, a restaurant journey around
England’s north. This is a strange movie, filmed and presented like a
documentary; it’s really an exercise in improvised comedy (although the
food looks real and quite nice). Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan spend most
of The Trip bickering, insulting each other, trying to outdo each
other and generally being mean. This is where the magic is. Their
dueling Michael Cain’s are a thing to behold. Their spontaneous version
of “The Winner Takes it All” by Abba had me on the floor. There is
nothing really new explored here though. You do get a little beaten
around the head by the juxtaposition between Coogan and Brydon. Coogan
has had more success in his career but lives an empty life devoid of
love, bouncing from one eastern European waitress to the next where as
Brydon has moderate success but has a loving family and perfect home
life. And this is where the film falls down. When the director
remembers that its meant to be a movie and tries to inject some plot
into the whole thing. Unnecessary and slowing this grinds the pace back
and even though the end might be poignant I would have happily sat
through another half hour of Brydon and Coogan critiquing each other’s
Alec Guinness impersonation than what we got.
Yes it’s slow and not groundbreaking but the
chemistry between Coogan and Brydon is such that it works. The moments
where it’s just them is comedy gold.
Special Features: Deleted scenes with Rob and Steve.
The reality is that this should have been the film and all that tedious
plot should have been ditched. Other than that, not much going on.
Video: The Blu-Ray video quality is excellent.
Audio: It’s mostly people talking, sounds fine.
