Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to Spain starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon is a whimsical adventure following the men’s two starkly different fictional lives as they travel Spain eating, exploring and emulating the styles of some of the world’s top personalities.
Contrasting two men at starkly different positions at middle age, the film follows Coogan and Brydon for a week as they travel through Spain discussing life, love and Spain’s many historic and beautiful landmarks.
As with its predecessors, much of the film’s humour comes from the pair’s relentless impersonations of famous figures ranging from Mick Jagger to Roger Moore and Al Pacino.
It is that effervescent style of British banter so familiar to viewers of the pair’s previous works.
Coogan and Brydon have near perfect chemistry and viewers would be forgiven for thinking they were playing their own lives in every detail.
However at times the film has to obviously divert from this illusion to develop the narrative further, which can stall the plot especially at the back end of the plot.
This does not detract from the overall impressiveness of the film, though, and it will be a hit for lovers of Coogan and Brydon’s past work.
Despite being the third in a series of films the humour has not tired but for an epilogue in the last 20 minutes of the film.
It is an easy, lay-back-in-the-chair comedy and the upbeat afraid-of-nothing humour and deadpan delivery makes the film for the most part an entertaining watch.
Fans of British comedic style will enjoy 115 minutes of The Trip to Spain.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Rated: M
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
In cinemas now.
