What would you get if the producers of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” combined “My Dinner with Andre ” and “Easy Rider” with some salacious food porn thrown in? Why, you’d have British director Michael Winterbottom’s latest Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon semi-improvised vehicle, “The Trip,” that’s what.
Comedic actor Steve Coogan, playing pretty much himself, is commissioned by The Observer to write some high-end restaurant reviews in northern England. Having failed to talk his “girlfriend” into joining him on this gustatory joy ride, Coogan finally convinces the last person on his list of friends, fellow comedic actor Rob Brydon, to come along. Be prepared for several days of touring, accompanied by wicked wit, dueling impressions of Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Al Pacino, Hugh Grant, Anthony Hopkins and Roger Moore (among others), petty disputes a-plenty over British poets and a lot of scallops, a charmingly moveable, cinematic laugh-feast. Here, I’ll share a couple of spoonfuls with you.
Discussions of sophisticated green-tinted drink fresh from the chef’s kitchen:
Coogan: “The consistency is a bit like snot, but it tastes great.”
Brydon: “Imagine Ray Winston has coughed it up.” [coughing noises]
Coogan: “Drink it.”
Brydon: “I don’t want to drink it.”
Coogan: “I’m fed up with your excuses . . . drink a goblet of my sputum.”
;
In Coogan’s Range Rover, a skewer of battle movie conventions:
Coogan: “‘Gentlemen to bed for we leave at first light . . ..’ ‘To bed for we rise at day break ….’ Always leave at day break. Never at . . . uh, 9:30. ‘For we leave at 9:30 ….'”
Brydon: “ish.”
Coogan: “‘Gentlemen to bed for we rise at . . . uh, what time is the battle? . . . about, uh, 12 o’clock . . . okay, so we leave at about . . . um ….'”
Dueling impressions of Michael Caine (Caution: some foul language):
Brydon quoting McKellan quoting Wordsworth (which sounds more like Robin Leach of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” to me):
“From Bolton’s old monastic tower 
The bells ring loud with gladsome power;
The sun shines bright; the fields are gay
With people in their best array
Of stole and doublet, hood and scarf,
Along the banks of crystal Wharf,
*********************
And thus in joyous mood they hie
To Bolton’s mouldering Priory.”
Coogan: “Why not your own voice?”
Brydon: “Ian McKellen came from Bolton.”
Coogan: “Different Bolton.”
Brydon: “Same word.”
The storyboard for this film must have taken no time to illustrate. Other than the beginning and ending, the movie really only has 6 rotating scenes: (i) Coogan’s Range Rover, (ii) a Bed and Breakfast, (iii) boisterous restaurant banter at table, (iv) “dressing room” scenes of naked, smokin’ hot, mouth-watering food, (v) Coogan atop a grassy knoll pleading for cell phone coverage while attempting to reach his “girlfriend” and (vi) a female hotel employee leaving Coogan asleep in his bed every other morning. Yet, in spite of this, for me at least, Winterbottom’s slow-cooked Mulligacomedy soup of a movie is served up in perfect portions, neither too hot, nor too cold, but just right, its rich flavor good until the last drop.
What’s your favorite food/road trip/buddy movie?
Yay! I watched the series rather than the film, but I loved it. The chemistry between Brydon and Coogan is so great and the little knife twists of melancholy, egotism and real pathos make the humor that much more poignant. The Michael Caine bit is great, I also love this Richard Gere bit.
I’ve seen the film, but not the series… and I loved it too! One of the most ‘laugh out loud’ films I can remember. I really like Steve Coogan, too… the vulnerability is very moving: a powerful humour interlaced, like in ‘Withnail’, as you pointed out.
I love the Englishness of the film, too. You mentioned the simplicity of the film – for me, it was a Northern English version of ‘Sideways’, that brilliant film of place that takes a wine tasting week away as its premise. I’ve got to say, for me, the realism of this works much better than ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ – and I love that series. British humour is a great institution, and this is a vehicle that really allows it to shine. The most brilliant moments are when the scene runs on – singing in the car, or impressions back and forth, or the eulogies… the length of time between cuts allows the awkwardness, humanity and patterning to rise up, and shock the viewer, with joy and sadness.
Yes, Heidi and Andy, good points. I didn’t allow myself space to explore the underlying existential dread of Coogan’s character, but it’s there, and it sets off the comedic aspects even more.
My wife asked me after watching this why we don’t have conversations like this. I said, we do, it’s just that they are always about superheroes or guitar players, topics my wife isn’t terribly interested in, so they are usually just between my 2 sons and me. The recurring topics of our conversations really allow us/the characters to turn ordinary conversations into kind of jazz improvisations that sooner or later turn out some nifty riffs.
Conversation as jazz improv. I aspire to that! :D
Me too! There is nothing I love better than finding a person or group of people where conversation flows like this — everyone improvising on a single theme, bringing in new elements, responding to each other with grace and ease. Doesn’t happen often, but it is one of the things that makes me feel really alive.
Oh I really like this. I hadn’t thought of that as a metaphor before, and I love it!