The Trip to Italy - Danny's review

In 2010 Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon went on a tour of restaurants in the Lake District. It was filmed by Michael Winterbottom and made into a short series and normal length film. In 2014 they repeated the same thing, but in Italy. The film versions of these Trips wasn't widely released in the UK, but I saw The Trip to Italy as part of a special synchronised screening. After the film Coogan and Brydon went on stage live at a cinema in Hackney, and answered audience questions while we all watched in our different cinemas.

The basic premise is that the pair of them have been commissioned to go around Italy to visit six expensive restaurants and write reviews about them. A large proportion of the film is them at dinner, engaged in conversation trying to do down each other's careers, and competing to see who can do the best impressions. Although Rob Brydon is known as an impersonator Coogan began his career twenty five years ago working on Spitting Image (Brydon says his Neil Kinnock is "The best thing he does.") and is also very good. There's a little bit of plot involved but it's basically just them talking and being funny.

Winterbottom previously directed Coogan on 24 Hour Party People and them both in A Cock and Bull story, and this has a similar anarchic style. It's a hybrid of documentary and fiction. You're not quite sure how real it is, as Brydon and Coogan play lightly fictionalised versions of themselves. Coogan says his character is very like him but slightly more annoying. The interviews after the film made me realise it's a bit more scripted than I first thought. For example, their one week holiday in Italy was actually filmed over about six weeks, and Brydon was supplied with music to produce to listen to on the journey - Alanis Morrissette, an inspired choice.

Coogan said in the interview that it's often cut at counter-intuitive points, continuing long after the natural end of a scene once a joke is no longer funny. This gives it an odd sense of reality, and surprisingly works well. What's interesting about the film version compared to the TV version is that despite being half as long it maintains the same slow pacing, with lots of same establishing shots. This still works because the dialogue is so fast paced and bewildering that it's OK to have a minute of relaxation in between.

For the record, my favourite bit is on the boat when they are doing Anthony Hopkins from Mutiny on the Bounty.