Originally a six part TV series broadcast on the BBC in November 2010 and praised by The Independent newspaper for ‘…its originality and its daring’, The Trip is a laugh-out-loud, documentary-style feature edited from the BAFTA award-winning series.
Television and film personality Steve Coogan is commissioned by The Observer newspaper to undertake a restaurant tour of northern England.
Accepting to impress his gourmand American girlfriend, Mischa, Coogan is forced to identify a new companion when she decides to take a break from the relationship and return to the US. He contacts friend and ‘source of eternal aggravation’, fellow comedian Rob Brydon.
From small to big screen
Playing fictionalised versions of themselves, the two embark on a driving tour of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, calling at six award-laden restaurants over six nights.
Cue extraordinarily wry banter and competitive mimicry as the likes of Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Al Pacino and Anthony Hopkins discuss the merits of the dishes served to the intrepid twosome.
And what merits, as the pair work their way through Michelin-starred restaurants: the challenging tasting plate at L’enclume in Cumbria; scallops, lamb, pigeon, rabbit, artichokes, soup of the day are all digested and discussed.
Director Winterbottom lovingly lingers on the food, respecting the creativity and imagination of the artists of the kitchen – which is more than the two friends. They simply tuck in, appreciatively or not as their Woody Allen or Richard Burton impersonations vie for centre stage.
Interspersed between the gastronomy is Brydon’s newly discovered love for the poems of Wordsworth and Coleridge and their Lake District settings, Coogan’s Transatlantic calls to both Mischa and his LA agent and the pair’s professional rivalry as Coogan in particular voices concerns for his future.
Philisophising over dinner
Improvised throughout, the comedy duo touch upon friendship, identity, ambition, fatherhood, success and failure, their bickering, ruminating, arguing presented in a completely natural manner, seemingly and effortlessly blurring the lines between fact and fiction.
The friendship between the two, as they drive through the stunning winter scenery of northern England or delight in an English breakfast on their final morning, is a powerful tool in a film that relies on the believability of the two men and their relationship.
The effervescent Brydon, always ready with a character or two to lighten the moment, is the perfect foil to Coogan’s cynicism about his lack of profile in the US or concerns about his mid-life crisis.
Personal rating: 3.5 stars
The Trip
- Directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Cock and Bull Story, The Killer Inside Me)
- Produced by Andrew Eaton (A Cock and Bull Story, The Killer Inside Me), Melissa Parmenter (The Road to Guantanamo)
- Starring Steve Coogan (Night at the Museum, A Cock and Bull Story), Rob Brydon (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, A Cock and Bull Story)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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