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The Trip: The Coogan/Brydon Effect

By Andrew Watson · July 18, 2011

One hit wonders are not necessarily one hit wonders.  A-Ha might be entirely known for the single “Take on Me” and that fantastic video which was a comic book with angry guys wielding pipe wrenches, but they also went out and released several albums and singles over their 20 odd years of existence. They will always really be known as the guys who did “Take on me.” It must absolutely grate on their conscience that they have never quite managed to find another song or a whole batch of songs which could meet the popularity of a pop song that the band aren’t even particularly fond of. At times, Steve Coogan must feel the same way, having had a full career of films, comedies, stand-up, and a production company churning out quality hits as one of the most respected production companies in England. Yet, he is still thought by most people as Alan Partridge, a crap Norwich FM DJ and former television presenter that ruled 90s television and haunted him for the rest of his career.

The fact that there is an Alan Partridge movie in the works means that the last statement is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but it does play a small role in The Trip, Michael Winterbottom’s second collaboration with the comic duo of Coogan and fellow comedian Rob Brydon after the deftly funny but low key Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. The Trip is very much a more semi-autobiographical piece, in which Coogan invites Rob on a trip of the North going to several fancy restaurants for a magazine, which he was supposed to be sharing with his American girlfriend. Semi-autobiographical films have become an interesting offshoot of the biopic, including an imaginative retelling of Jean Claude Van Damme’s life in J.C.V.D, which was entirely factual apart from the small detail of the bank heist he comes implicated in. It’s best moment was a 3 minute monologue in which Jean Claude literally ‘rises’ out of the film set to talk directly to the camera, discussing the direction his life has taken. The Trip doesn’t have an out of place monologue, but it does share a lot of similarities.

The film is a low key and bare bones comedy, in which Coogan and Brydon tour all these fancy restaurants and countryside landmarks while the 44 year old Coogan contemplates how his life has unfolded. Desperate to stay in films and work in America, he finally gets an offer of a TV show but one that will force him to work in America for seven years and leave him several thousand miles away from his son. He is also struggling to get his head around a difficult and messy break period from his American girlfriend, who has moved back to the States and left him to share the trip with Rob Brydon who provides the perfect contrast: absolutely happy and content with his life. Coogan lets out his frustration on Brydon, as they bat back and forth off each other for the rest of the movie.

What works about The Trip is the great relationship that Coogan and Brydon have built over the last 11 years, which melts into each scene. Each restaurant scene is broken up by the two competing with each other to be the one who’s right, the one who has the better acting ability or the man who can produce a better Michael Caine impression. What baffles and irks Coogan is that Brydon is probably the better impressionist; including his much lauded ‘little man in a box’ impression that manages to blag them a visit past closing time at a local attraction after Coogan’s pleading goes nowhere. They create a great chemistry in which Coogan belittles Brydon every chance he gets while Brydon brushes them off with wit and good grace, getting his own back by shoe-horning the odd Alan Partridge impression in just to irritate him from time to time.

There is also the well worked torment that Coogan goes through as the trip rolls on, dreaming of  Ben Stiller as his agent, Alan Partridge and tabloid embarrassments while throwing himself into brief flings. Brydon reacts to this by asking Coogan whether he is too old to be doing this kind of thing, which is more profound than he even realises. Coogan is not only too old to be chasing meaningless flings but also a career in Hollywood and stardom at the age of 44, which is the lesson that he will have to learn if he is going to find the same happiness that he sees in the content Brydon. This is where The Trip scratches below the surface of movie impressions and studies its main character in detail. The final scene is particularly poignant.

It’s a shame we didn’t see more of it during the course of The Trip. The film is funny and interesting and has a great back and forth between two great characters, but in a small and contained story is often the only fully defined conflict in the majority of the piece. It would have been nice to see more of the fractured relationship with the American girlfriend, especially during the later parts of the movie where the film staggers at the same pace it starts at. The reason for the small amount of conflict may be the fact it was originally a BBC series before it was turned into a feature, or that it was largely improvised, or that being a comedy, more emphasis was being placed on it being funny. A lack of the latter would have been fatal.

Perhaps though, a bigger film would detract from the story of a man whose career has not shown the same bright promise as it had when an incompetent Norwich TV personality burst on the scenes and wowed the British public. How truthful The Trip’s depiction of Steve Coogan is grounded in reality is open to debate, but it has made for a fascinating look at aging celebrity and given us a welcome return of a duo that bounces off each other with great wit. It also should be watched solely on the “little man in a box” impression, which is absolutely baffling. Now I’m off to master how to talk like Michael Caine.