Also, they look at some nice scenery and eat some nice nouvelle cuisine, frequently cut in geometric shapes. They regard the fine food with near detachment, making the loving attention the camera pays to it an ironic contrast. How closely this parallels the real Coogan I don’t know, but there is a somewhat serious side in which Coogan weighs the possibilities of the United States, where a larger market and an American girlfriend beckon. I suspect the film might have worked slightly better in its original form as a six-part television series. In long form the minimal plot makes the movie seem long, but it’s often enough amusing, at least if the notion of 40ish Englishmen bickering in the voice of Michael Caine about which of them has the better Caine imitation amuses you. It also offers a perspective on adult male friendship that’s different from that of a typical buddy film, perhaps because these are such distinct personalities.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Trip (**3/4)
There should be a name for the modestly burgeoning subgenre of film/movie wherein the stars play fictionalized versions of themselves with the same names. My Dinner with Andre did this 30 years ago. Neil Patrick Harris did it in the Harold and Kumar movies. Larry David does it in his HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. Maybe combine all of those (well, not so much Harold and Kumar) and you roughly get The Trip, wherein British TV stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon riff on whatever comes into their heads, especially imitating celebrity voices, as they motor around and overnight in the inns of northern England.
Also, they look at some nice scenery and eat some nice nouvelle cuisine, frequently cut in geometric shapes. They regard the fine food with near detachment, making the loving attention the camera pays to it an ironic contrast. How closely this parallels the real Coogan I don’t know, but there is a somewhat serious side in which Coogan weighs the possibilities of the United States, where a larger market and an American girlfriend beckon. I suspect the film might have worked slightly better in its original form as a six-part television series. In long form the minimal plot makes the movie seem long, but it’s often enough amusing, at least if the notion of 40ish Englishmen bickering in the voice of Michael Caine about which of them has the better Caine imitation amuses you. It also offers a perspective on adult male friendship that’s different from that of a typical buddy film, perhaps because these are such distinct personalities.
viewed 6/14/11 at Ritz East [PFS screening] and reviewed 6/17/11
Also, they look at some nice scenery and eat some nice nouvelle cuisine, frequently cut in geometric shapes. They regard the fine food with near detachment, making the loving attention the camera pays to it an ironic contrast. How closely this parallels the real Coogan I don’t know, but there is a somewhat serious side in which Coogan weighs the possibilities of the United States, where a larger market and an American girlfriend beckon. I suspect the film might have worked slightly better in its original form as a six-part television series. In long form the minimal plot makes the movie seem long, but it’s often enough amusing, at least if the notion of 40ish Englishmen bickering in the voice of Michael Caine about which of them has the better Caine imitation amuses you. It also offers a perspective on adult male friendship that’s different from that of a typical buddy film, perhaps because these are such distinct personalities.
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I thought the scenery was the best part of the film. I like your point about the contrast between the food and the way the men ate it. My friend also commented on the simple "Thank you" offered to the waiters who place the lovely dishes in front of them. In a way, it was refreshing not to hear oohs and aahs as they ate; but, I know if I had been there, I could not have resisted a few yums.
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