Review: 'The Trip to Greece' rounds up Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon for a melancholy final journey
If there was ever a time to live vicariously through the gourmet travelogues Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon present in director Michael Winterbottom’s “The Trip” series, it’s now — when we’ve all been stuck at home, unable to travel to fancy hotels or dine at expensive restaurants.
And it’s doubly fitting that the fourth — and, according to the marketing, final — in the series, “The Trip to Greece,” conveys a melancholy air, as the sadness of the outside world starts to infringe on the fun times of extravagant dining and boisterous repartee.
Generally, the formula holds from the three previous installments: Coogan and Brydon tour some region — the north of England in “The Trip” (2010), followed by sequels to Italy (2014) and Spain (2017) — so Steve can write a piece for The Observer. The writing is a cover for the story’s true purpose, which is to get Coogan and Brydon (as fictionalized versions of themselves) on the road, exchanging banter and dead-on impersonations.
This time, the premise is that the lads are following the route of Homer in “The Odyssey,” which causes Coogan to reflect on their own 10-year odyssey of this series. (In the UK, it is a TV series, each trip a six-episode comedy that’s been edited to movie length for the Yanks.)
The two friends do a bit of sight-seeing, which prompts wry or sometimes just silly observations. When they visit ruins where a great army once camped for 10 years, Brydon notes, “I can do a week, tops. With a pillow. I won’t camp without a pillow.”
Soon they run into Kareem (Kareem Alkabbani), who worked with Coogan on another movie filmed in Greece not long before (the satirical comedy “Greed,” which Winterbottom also directed). Kareem played a Syrian refugee in that movie, and in this one he asks for a lift to where he works: A refugee camp. The glimpse of the camp turns the movie serious for a moment, though the conversation quickly moves to Brydon needling Coogan for not being able to remember Kareem’s name.
Coogan’s self-centeredness is, as always, a recurring theme. Somehow, the conversation always turns to subject of the seven BAFTAs Coogan has won, or the rave reviews he got for “Stan & Ollie” — even the review that compliments Coogan’s performance while insulting him as a human being.
The pair regularly try to one-up each other with jokes and, especially, impressions. That’s when “The Trip to Greece” is the most fun, as they pull out their Marlon Brando or James Bond impersonations. For the record, Coogan’s Mick Jagger is amazing, while Brydon delivers a great Dustin Hoffman from “Marathon Man.” (The series’ signature move, when the two deliver contrasting Michael Caines, is skipped over this go-round.)
But there are deeper, darker strains underlying on this “Trip,” as Brydon considers his happy marriage and Coogan faces an impending death in the family. The way Coogan and Brydon try to laugh past the graveyards of antiquity and in their own lives is what makes “The Trip to Greece” such a moving experience.
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‘The Trip to Greece’
★★★1/2
Debuts Friday, May 22, as a digital rental on various streaming platforms. Not rated, but probably R for language and mild sexual content. Running time: 103 minutes.