Actors: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon
There is
desperation behind actors who are always performing, constantly to try and
convince others of their talent, and even more transparent insecurities in
those who spend a majority of their conversations boasting and exaggerating
minor achievements. I have spent enough time on set listening to pathetically
unsuccessful day players and background actors do this that I have no urge to
find these personalities in my entertainment as well. Steve Coogan and Rob
Brydon may be adequate entertainers when they are playing someone else, but the
singular joke of these two actors desperately trying to one-up each other
through a TV series and two films has significantly worn out my patience.
Part travelogue
and international road trip movie, The Trip to Italy brings back Coogan and
Brydon for another trip filled with delicious looking meals that go nearly
entirely unappreciated by the traveling actors. Instead, they are far more
concerned with spending every meal gossiping about more successful actors while
they compete for the best impressions. I can only imagine how irritating it
would be to take a trip with one person doing incessant impersonations, much
less two. Even just the 100-minute run time is a bit more than I could bear of
the overbearing Brydon and his pathetically competitive travel partner.
As was the case
with the first film, director Michael Winterbottom doesn’t insert much plot
into the film. Aside from a contrived romantic relationship and fictitious
career advancement for Brydon, the film is mostly improvised dialogue between
the two C-list actors as they shovel food in their mouths. Again, if I wanted
to watch actors talk about themselves and eating incessantly, I would hang out
at the craft service table on any Hollywood
set. To make matters even worse, we see as much of the food in preparation and
on their plate as we do being mashed beneath teeth, because these two actors
can’t stop talking about themselves long enough to chew with their mouths
closed.
If you enjoyed
the first attempts at this style of humor, the second one is likely to be just
as enjoyable. Not much has changed, except perhaps some updated impressions and
a few scenarios in the plot that are more contrived than the first time around.
While the locations and photography have become more beautiful, it is not
enough to balance out the increase in irritation brought on by Brydon, and to a
lesser degree, Coogan. The Blu-ray special features include deleted scenes and
a trailer, as well as a high definition presentation of pasta being mashed
between Brydon’s teeth between Michael Caine impressions.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6.5/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 2.5/10
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