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(MA15+) ***
Director: Michael Winterbottom.
Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon.
ORIGINALLY a six-part TV series in the UK, The Trip was a weird blend of the popular food-travel genre and a fictionalised celebrity documentary.
For it's DVD release, it has been edited down to a 100-minute feature that artfully and hilariously pulls together the threads of the show into a near-narrative that blends comedy with some nice thematic touches.
The famous type doing the travelling and eating around northern England is Steve Coogan, best known as TV character Alan Partridge as well as for films such as Tropic Thunder, 24 Hour Party People and Night At The Museum.
Coogan plays an exaggerated version of himself - a mopey and bitter actor, desperately trying to make it in Hollywood, but stuck in a career trough. He's also been ditched by his girlfriend, who he had hoped would join him on his gourmet tour, which is for an article for The Observer.
Desperate to not go alone, Coogan calls on Rob Brydon - an English TV personality he has worked with repeatedly - to join him.
The Trip revels in the dichotomy and similarities between the pair's heightened versions of themselves. Brydon is the happy family man, content with his low level of fame and his ability to make people laugh, while Coogan wants to be taken seriously and is still partying, doing drugs and chasing skirt as he pursues the Hollywood dream.
Both share a passion for words, theatre and an enjoyable sense of one-up-man-ship - the highlight of the film is their impersonation competitions. With Coogan and Brydon renowned for their mimicry skills, their takes on Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Woody Allen and many more will have you in stitches.
In between their witty banter and copycatting, The Trip takes times to ponder bigger questions of life - goals, family, love, mortality, ageing, and the joys of a good meal.
It's not big on plot or story so there are slow patches, but the interaction of Brydon and Coogan makes this more worthwhile, if less informative, than any number of food-travel shows.
