Culture

Directed by Michael Winterbottom, (4/5).

Anyone who sat through the end credits of Michael Winterbottom’s film within a film Tristram Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story was aptly rewarded with the side-splitting comedic brilliance of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s sparred and improvised impersonations of popular celebrities. The Trip is the latest offering from Winterbottom and sees the reprise of Coogan and Brydon playing loosely-based versions of themselves. Coogan is the narcissistic, pretentious and tormented artist matched against Brydon’s optimistic and charmingly contented soul. Together the two men embark on a week-long road trip across the stunningly-captured rural north of England. The purpose of the trip is to eat great food while reviewing a selection of fine English restaurants for the UK’s Observer. Along the way, the largely improvised banter-cum-bickering includes hilarious impersonations of actors such as Michael Caine, Al Pacino, Woody Allen, and Billy Connolly. Watch out also for Brydon’s own imagined character ‘Small Angry Man in a Box’ for an example of rare inexplicable comic genius.
As is the theme with road trip films, you expect the characters to partake in philosophical musings along the way. Coogan is indeed a troubled-man, torn between the life he has and the one he could have if certain choices are made. In contrast, Brydon is ridiculously happy with his lot and if truth be known would rather be at home with his wife and new baby. The journey certainly tests their friendship and prompts both to ponder, question, and affirm what is important to them. As the mood moves swiftly from light to dark, some of this soul-searching can seem so close to the bone that it may leave audiences wondering how much of this is art imitating life. Especially where Coogan is concerned, it is plausible to question how much truth may be in the narrative.
The Trip is an enormously funny and heartfelt film about the journey of a friendship. Throughout the film, the audience is aware that Coogan ultimately has a potentially life-changing decision to make. At the film’s conclusion, we are reminded that it is not about arriving at your destination that matters so much as the journey that you take to get there.
– Jane Ross