Madmen Entertainment have donated 20 double passes to see The Trip to Italy. The first 20 people to send their addresses to [email protected] will win.

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon
Duration: 103 mins
Rating: M – Coarse language
Release Date: 29 May, 2014

Stephen A Russell says: 

Michael Winterbottom’s glorious pseudo-documentary The Trip (2010) saw the incomparably dry comic sparring partners of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon touring the finest eating spots of England, purportedly because Coogan had been dumped and needed someone to accompany him on this foodie jaunt commissioned by The Observer magazine (The Guardian’s Sunday print edition in the UK).

Supposedly a follow up from Coogan’s editor, this time round they’ve been upgraded to the luscious landscapes of Italy, from Piemonte to Pompeii and on to the ethereal beauty of the Amalfi coast. In a Mini. Which of course leads to a spot on accented rendition of the immortal Michael Caine quote from The Italian Job, “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.”

Brydon, in particular, is a fan of the accents, but the pair will happily square off on most. Pacino, Brando, Roger Moore are all fair game, and it builds to an almost unbearably funny scene in which they posit a poor assistant who has to ask the infamously grumpy Christian Bale of the viral Terminator: Salvation tantrum and Tom Hardy’s incomprehensible Bane from The Dark Knight Rises if they could at least try to pronounce clearly.

Truth is, as they say, stranger than fiction. Though the characters around them are played by professional actors, from a star struck deck hand who has an un-moralised affair with married Brydon, to Coogan’s cross-Atlantic assistants and his supposed son, the interaction between the central pair is even more honestly rendered than The Trip, with Winterbottom allowing the pair to improvise at will, riff off each other deliciously. It’s worth noting that, as with the last one, there are no scriptwriters credited here, and it does feel off the cuff in the very best way.

There are no scriptwriters credited here, and it does feel off the cuff in the very best way.

There are moments that truly sing, such as Brydon working his own man-in-a-box shtick with a petrified inhabitant of Pompeii, encased in glass, and Coogan’s searing take down of his dining buddy’s attempt to land a role in the latest Michael Mann movie. A running joke that sees them singing along to Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill is also gold.

The food porn aspect is magnificent, as are the stunning vistas revealed along the course of their loose pilgrimage of the sites patronised by power poets Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, with cinematographer Ben Smithard making the most of the haunting light. There’s also a glorious paean to filmic history smuggled in for good measure, with nods to William Wyler’s Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, John Huston’s Beat the Devil with Humphrey Bogart and Roberto Rossellini’s Voyage to Italy, amongst others.

As with the previous outing, the BBC showed this in serialised TV format, but we get a gloriously stitched up and hilariously creased almost two-hour movie that, not too far buried beneath the abundantly zany humour, reveals something of the true friendship between Coogan and Brydon, and a glimpse into their aspirations. An inspiring and eventful journey it is too.

The Guardian says: “Together they work. That’s really what it is: a double act, a couple of middle-aged blokes arsing about in Italy, being funny.”

The Hollywood Reporter says: “The Trip to Italy is the Godfather 2 of road movies in which brilliant British comedians take the piss out of each other while eating exquisite food. As funny as the first go-round, more beautiful to look at, and better conceived.”

The Telegraph UK says: “Put simply, Coogan and Brydon may well be the best comic double act around.”

Madmen Entertainment have donated 20 double passes to see The Trip to Italy. The first 20 people to send their addresses to [email protected] will win.