The Trip to Italy

I am a hard critic when it comes to comedy; it all just seem so contrived to me. But the woman three rows back had a whale of a time laughing all the way through this film. Was the split opinion a reflection of the film’s inconsistencies or, simply, the subjective nature of comedy?

There is a lot in this film to potential annoy one, be that its endless schizophrenic bouncing between impersonations, its seeming disordered plotless meandering, or its inconsistencies that come with improvisation – hitting it one minute and not the next.

To be fair, it is this genuine ad-libbing – and the actors’ ability to deliver at the moment – that is what, in the end, holds this film together and, many will argue, is its brilliance.   

The Trip to Italy follows the acclaimed The Trip, released in 2010 and directed by fellow collaborator Michael Winterbottom. If you didn’t see the first edition, the pair go on a culinary road trip of the Lakes District in the UK with Brydon in the seat as restaurant reviewer.

Its Italian sequel was first presented on British Television and has been released on screen for the US-market. Coogan and Brydon indeed critique the very notion of “the sequel” early in the film, perhaps offering an insurance policy against the more cynical viewer, couching the reasoning ‘I am affable’, repeatedly thrown at each other in quick succession and differing tone.

Whether it is infantile, inspired or inconsequential – and I might proposal all three – the film seems to get away with it because Coogan and Brydon are clearly “affable”. 

The premise is incidental; it is a culinary travelogue that has nothing to do with food. And like the enviable locations – and ever so sexy convertible MINI Cooper driven between them with Alanis Morissette nostalgically blaring – food is more a case of “stage dressing”, the somewhat long shots of preparation and delivery not warranting comment by our so-called screen critics.

The most energetic engagement is along the lines of “this is nice”, with the highly pitched critique sitting around the line, “you can taste a good egg”. The most vigorous conversation about eating, rather, was reserved for the proposition of our lead actors finding themselves in a plane crash and the choice of savouring the legs of Mo Farah over Brydon’s or Stephen Hawking. A plate of quail had been the trigger.

This film is more like stand up comedy than a scripted plot, and screening for 103 minutes you have to have a pretty resilient skin for impersonations.  A feud like face-off between Coogan and Brydon commenced in the first series The Trip and continued as a running gag throughout this sequel.  The quest was to decide the premier impersonator of Michael Caine.

Add to that Sean Connery and Roger Moore – and the cast of Batman’s The Dark Knight – this long dialogue plays off the fact that no body can understand it, given its lack of diction. There is an odd synergy for the critic of this film – why listen?

Strip this film of its impersonations and stunning locations and what remains? As mentioned the food is incidental, and the concurrent plots of “real life” family relationships and problems, on-the-road affairs, a side-line literary pilgrimage, and the flagging careers of middle-aged stars become mere punctuations to the dialogue between Coogan and Brydon. 

It is the awkward moments that challenge the film’s very premise. From the opening scene when Coogan answer’s Brydon’s call to come to Italy with his t-shirt inside out to the closing tensions in Coogan’s relationship with his son, a kind of pathetic resolve that is so un-Hollywood, these were the film’s saving grace in my opinion.

In saying that, I seem to be the only one with this view. Simply, if you don’t like impersonations then this is not the film for you. Perhaps I grew up too much in the era of teenage boys spouting Monty Python.

However, Coogan and Brydon have a rare rapport and unique talent that can’t be denied and that the film allows that to flourish – it whatever bizarre or banal path it might take – witnessed warts and all, can only applauded.

Rating 3.5 out of 5