[yasr_overall_rating]
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon embark on a six-part episodic road trip through Spain, sampling the restaurants, eateries, and sights along the way.
This is the third film in the highly successful “The Trip to” series. In 2011, it all began with “The Trip,” where celebrities Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon traveled around the north of England on a restaurant tour, sampling food and wines from various establishments along their journey. They followed it up in 2014 with “The Trip to Italy,” this time touring Italy, savoring its fine cuisine and alcohol. Well, the two lads are back again and in great form, as they take us along with them on “The Trip to Spain.” For those not familiar with the two men, Steve Coogan is an English actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer, while Rob Brydon is also an actor and comedian, radio and television presenter, singer, and impressionist. They have worked together many times in TV shows produced by the BBC and while “The Trip” movies have been very successful in theaters here in the U.S., they originally aired on TV in the U.K. in 30-minute episodes and then after the shows aired, they were then edited together to form a feature-length film. While I thought “The Trip to Italy” was hilarious and much better than its predecessor, “The Trip to Spain” has them both beat. It is the culmination of the two actors trying to outmaneuver and outshine each other in everything they do, from hilarious impersonations of Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, and Roger Moore, to some absolutely stunning aerial photography of the Spanish coastline and countryside.
While the movie would have you believe that each actor is simply playing himself, the truth is, they are playing exaggerated versions of themselves. As the duo leave England on a ferry for the Spanish coast, they immediately begin mocking each other and impersonating many well-known thespians along the way. While both men are fine actors, I must admit, Mr. Brydon’s impersonations carry much more weight than Mr. Coogan’s. He does get Michael Caine down right but Brydon’s take on Caine, Connery, Hopkins, and Brando, are absolutely spot on. The film is shot in a documentary-style fashion as they travel the country, going from hotel to hotel, and eating in some of the country’s finest eateries. Before I came to the U.S. myself back in 1994, I backpacked around Europe for a month and Spain was one of the countries on my travels so it was a great delight to see locations and landmarks that I had actually visited. While the thought of following two men around a beautiful country as they eat and drink, might seem a tad bit boring, the filmmakers wisely present each character with their own personal narratives, from family interactions to work afflictions.
While Mr. Coogan did indeed write, produce, and star in the 2013 drama, “Philomena,” in which he co-starred alongside Judi Dench, and won a bevy of awards and accolades, including being nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, he constantly brings this up throughout “The Trip” movies, trying to one-up Rob because while Rob is very successful in England, he has not made the transition to the U.S. the same way Steve has and watching them try to bulldoze each other every chance they get, is hilarious. While Steve is the more successful of the two, at least within the confines of “The Trip” movies, he is trying to deal with the fact that his longtime U.S. manager has just left his agency to start his own and has taken a lot of well-known celebrities with him, deciding not to include him, much to his dismay. Rob, on the other hand, has a wife and young family and seems to be doing fine when he receives a call from Steve’s now ex-manager, asking him if he would like to be represented in the U.S. by him. Thankfully though, while these snippets of drama are necessary to help create character exposition for the two men within the movie, it only materializes occasionally, thankfully allowing us to concentrate more on the two men and their comedic abilities. This series could go on for years and I really hope it does, because, with the world at their beck and call, I would travel with these two guys anywhere.
In theaters Friday, August 18th
