The Trip is a 2010 British television sitcom series directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalised versions of themselves on a restaurant tour of northern England. The series was edited into a feature film and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010. The full series was first broadcast on BBC Two and BBC HD in the United Kingdom in November 2010. Both the TV series and film received very positive reviews.
A second series, The Trip to Italy, followed in 2014. Like the first series, it was edited into a feature film, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. The television series premiered on BBC Two in the United Kingdom in April 2014.
A third series, The Trip to Spain, was filmed in 2016. It premiered on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom on 6 April 2017 and was also edited into a feature film.
Video The Trip (2010 TV series)
Plot
The Trip (season 1)
In an effort to impress his gourmet girlfriend, Mischa (Margo Stilley), actor Steve Coogan accepts a commission from The Observer to go on a restaurant tour of the north of England. When Mischa insists they take a break from their relationship, Steve invites colleague and friend-of-sorts Rob Brydon. On the trip, Coogan has a number of one-night stands, but is miserable professionally and personally, despite being the bigger star; Brydon, with his young family, is more content and laid-back. The two argue and attempt to outdo and humiliate each other with their impersonations of famous figures including Michael Caine and Sean Connery, especially in the presence of women.
The Trip to Italy (season 2)
Rob and Steve are commissioned to do another restaurant tour, this time in Italy from Piedmont to Capri, following in the footsteps of the great Romantic poets in the early 19th century on the Grand Tour.. While on the tour, Rob wins a part in an American Michael Mann film.
The Trip to Spain (season 3)
Rob and Steve are commissioned to do another restaurant tour, this time in Spain.
Maps The Trip (2010 TV series)
Origins
Coogan and Brydon's roles as fictionalised versions of themselves are a continuation of their improvised performances in the film A Cock and Bull Story (2005), also directed by Michael Winterbottom. In an interview with The Guardian, Coogan said he and Brydon exaggerated "the aspects of ourselves that help the comedy ... I like playing with the fact that it might be me, to give it a bit more edge. So some of the conversations with Rob are funny, but some of them are very uncomfortable. They're sort of genuine arguments. It's a sort of an exaggeration of real life."
Reception
The Trip received positive reviews. Andrea Mullaney of The Scotsman said that "on paper, The Trip sounds bloody awful: a cosy, luvvie giant in-joke for Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon", but went on to describe it as "completely brilliant" and "hilarious". Brian Viner of The Independent said: "The Trip never fails to oblige. I love it for its originality and its daring." John Crace of The Guardian described the show as "one of the funniest things on TV." Director Richard Curtis described the series as one of the greatest television programmes of all time at the 2013 British Comedy Awards. It was nominated for the 2011 BAFTA Television Award for Best Situation Comedy, and Steve Coogan won the award for Best Male Comedy Performance. It won the best new programme award at the 2012 Broadcast awards in London.
The Trip film received positive reviews from American critics. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York five, and Ben Kenigsberg of Time Out Chicago four. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film 90/100. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal gave the film 80/100. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the film a B rating, saying that "there was no reason the film couldn't have been even funnier." John Anderson of Variety said "viewers will barely stop laughing." Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a B+. The film currently holds an 89% "Certified Fresh" review score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic gave the film an average score of 82/100 based on 33 reviews. As of 1 September 2011 the film had grossed $1,926,866, of which $77,904 was on its opening weekend in the US.
The second series, The Trip to Italy, also received positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of 54 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.3 out of 10. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice wrote that The Trip to Italy "is basically more of the same Trip ... Now we know just what to expect from Coogan and Brydon, although as long as you're willing to settle in for the ride, that's not necessarily a bad thing." Scott Foundas of Variety found the series a "warmly enjoyable continuation of their improvised cultural and culinary adventures." William Goss of Film.com wrote: "Plenty enjoyable for fans of the first one, but by the end, it also has the consistency of reheated comfort food." Amber Wilkinson of The Daily Telegraph gave the film version of The Trip to Italy a grade B score, writing that Coogan and Brydon's "improvisation has been honed to the point where the jokes land solidly without losing naturalism and the pair of them are clearly enjoying la dolce vita."
A review article of the series was published in the online quarterly film journal Senses of Cinema in 2015, which reflects upon its relationships to poetry, the work of Walter Benjamin, allegory, tragedy, mourning, Italian neorealism, Romanticism, and The Gravediggers scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Episodes
The Trip (season 1)
The Trip to Italy (season 2)
The Trip to Spain (season 3)
International broadcast
In Australia, the programme was first screened Wednesday nights at 10:00pm on ABC1 starting on 14 December 2011, six months after the feature film edit of The Trip was released.
DVD releases
The first series of The Trip was released on 13 December 2010. The second series was released on 12 May 2014, as well as a boxset featuring all 12 TV episodes, and a boxset of the film versions.
References
External links
- BBC programme - The Trip
- BBC programme - The Trip To Italy
- The Trip at British Comedy Guide
- The Trip on IMDb
- IFC Films - The Trip
- The Trip (film) on IMDb
- The Trip (film) at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Trip To Italy (film) on IMDb
- The Trip To Italy (film) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Review article: ''The Trip' as Mourning Comedy at Senses of Cinema
Source of article : Wikipedia
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