The second half of our Netflix Double Feature last Saturday, The Trip (which I guess was a television show that was edited into a movie? What?) is a movie that I had been wanting to sit down and watch for quite awhile- if for no other reason than watching Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon bounce competing impressions off of each other is a LOL-tastic good time. (Their competing Michael Caine impressions alone make this worth watching- but please, stay and catch Coogan's Roger Moore- it's comedic perfection at it's best.)
Michael Winterbottom directs the pair in what I guess is a sort of sequel to A Cock and Bull Story- a movie which I have heard about but never seen. Both play fictionalized versions of themselves: Coogan, in an attempt to impress his American girlfriend Mischa, accepts a job from The Observer touring the best restaurants of Northern England to review them. When Mischa decides to take a break from their relationship and go to America to work for awhile, Coogan is forced to seek an alternative travelling companion, eventually hitting up Brydon.
Together, the two of them present interest contrasts. Brydon has a loving wife and child, a comfortably middle class existence and seems (at least outwardly) to be content with his lot in life. Coogan, on the other hand, presents himself as a deeply melancholy and unhappy man, trying to break into more serious roles and failing. His relationship on the rocks, he spends most of their trip (when they're not sparring over Wordsworth, Coleridge and who does the better Michael Caine impression) sleeping with various women they meet along the way and arguing with his agents about roles he might be about to get.
There's really not much more to this movie than that: food and driving across the gorgeous landscapes of Northern England with comedy and verbal sparring throughout. I think was surprised me the most was the undercurrent of melancholy that Coogan presents. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy: I mean, he's successful but doesn't feel that he's been successful enough. He's well known on television but craves the big, Hollywood lifestyle- he's got tons but it's not enough. In contrast to this, Brydon has a more modest but ultimately more fulfilling existence. He's got a wife that loves him and a new baby as well but the stark contrast between the two hits home at the very end when Brydon arrives home to light and warmth and Coogan arrives home to his empty but glamorous penthouse where he calls his agent and turns down the lead role in a major drama on US television- he wants to stay closer to his kids.
Overall: This movie made me want to move to England. The Missus actually did a Google search about getting nursing jobs over there and it turns out it's kind of a pain in the ass so we decided to settle for the occasional vacation- when and if we can ever afford it again. The Lake District and the Peak District just looked fantastic and gorgeous and I was craving a proper English Breakfast so badly by the end of it. And it didn't help that Coogan and Brydon were funny as hell throughout this movie either. Amazing stuff- might have to look up A Cock and Bull Story and check that out and Wikipedia says they're making a sequel! A Trip To Italy! That should be fun. My verdict: **** out of ****
No comments:
Post a Comment