Review of The Trip (2011) by House M — 16 Sep 2013

"The Trip" is an excellent combination of delicious British comedy and bleak drama. I'm not sure how it works, but yet again, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has completed the exact same feat for over ten years. It doesn't matter, because I love both. Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Michael Winterbottom making a film together is like the British dream team, and the results are unlike any movie I've seen in a long time.

Steve Coogan is asked by The Observer to go on a gourmet food tour and write reviews on what he thinks, with the restaurants existing only in hills we can imagine in "Wuthering Heights". Steve plans on taking his girlfriend Mischa, but she abruptly cancels, so he decides to go with his good friend Rob Brydon. The two obviously have an interesting relationship, amusing each other constantly all the while getting on each other's nerves. It's a sight to see, but it all gets a bit empathetic when we see Rob happily married and with a baby at home while Steve womanizes his way to the bottom.

When "The Trip" started, I was happy. When it ended, I was sad. It sounds like a bad thing at first, but it truly isn't. Considering everything looks faux documentary and you feel as though Coogan and Brydon are playing real life versions of themselves (even though they're not), you can't help but feel as though you're going along on the food tour too. In this case, you can decide for yourself if you like Coogan or Brydon's imitation of Michael Caine more than the other.

In the long run though, "The Trip" is highly interesting. The dialogue, all rapid and mostly improvised, buzzes along with intensity. While the two leads may think of this as just another exercise in their talents, they phenomenally develop themselves as characters just by having a simply conversation. It's hard to say how they necessarily do it, but Winterbottom catches it in the classiest of ways.

"The Trip" is a smart comedy that reminds us of the good old days in which comedy stars could have a film to themselves without playing anything to broadly. Who knew such a simply film could be so much fun to watch?