Review of The Trip (2011) by Daniel P — 16 Jul 2012

Winterbottom and Coogan team up again to tell a sort of true, sort of not story about England that will make you laugh and may make you cry, thanks mostly to its honesty and verisimilitude.

The premise is that Coogan is between jobs, wanting to make big, brilliant American movies, but being offered only TV series designed for washed up stars. Newly on a break from his much younger girlfriend, Coogan sets off to write a magazine article about the restaurants in England's northlands, and in a pinch to find a travel companion, calls old friend and Tristram Shandy co-star Rob Brydon. The men's friendship strains, as does Coogan's personal life and career, as they make their way from place to place, really doing little more than carrying on a conversation that ranges through all emotions. Compelling viewing, and most notable, perhaps, for the moment when Steve Coogan says he wants to work with auteurs; he and Winterbottom are already doing it.