The Trip to Italy
Film & TV
“Neither of us knows anything about food, really,” Steve Coogan says early on in this film, puzzling over why he and Rob Brydon would be asked to travel around Italy reviewing restaurants.
No matter, this road trip is more comedy than culinary – and what a trip it is.
A follow-up to director Michael Winterbottom’s 2010 film The Trip, which saw Coogan and Brydon touring the restaurants of northern England, The Trip to Italy finds the comedians undertaking a similar journey through places such as Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and Capri, ostensibly on assignment with London’s Observer newspaper.
This time, instead of the romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge, they are following in the footsteps of “George Gordon” Lord Byron and Shelley, with a black convertible Mini as their wheels and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill as the unlikely soundtrack.
A seemingly endless array of delectable dishes in fine-looking restaurants, and the stunning scenery – tiered vineyards, rolling verdant countryside, picturesque towns and breathtaking coastline – creates a beautifully hypnotic backdrop for Coogan and Brydon’s entertaining banter and mid-life mirth and melancholy.
Their mimicry of everyone from Michael Parkinson and Woody Allen to Al Pacino and Truman Capote makes for some hilarious comedic contests. The standout impersonation is of Michael Caine as Alfred in the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises –just try to watch it and not laugh out loud.
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There is a little gentle drama in the background involving women and family, which reminds us that these are indeed personas, but the essence of the film is two men and their sharp wit. Is it a little self-indulgent? Perhaps. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.
Early on, Coogan muses that it feels odd doing something for the second time: “It’s like second album syndrome, isn’t it? Everyone has this amazing expressive first album where they put everything into it and the second one’s a bit of a damp squib.
“It’s like trying to do a sequel, isn’t it? It’s never going to be as good as the first time.”
To which his companion replies: “Godfather II”.
Touché.
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