Awkward Moments

Movie: The Trip

My Rating: 2 stars

Oh geez.  I was not ready to sit through the usually aimless, sometimes painful, improvisational comedy of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.  These guys are hilarious together, and they work really well as an improv duo.  They’re just so natural together, and they instinctively gravitate toward the most awkward scenarios possible.  So, that’s why this is the absolute last thing you’d want to watch if you’re feeling even a little tired.  Yes, the film is a comedy, but it is a kind of humor that explores the most troublesome, little corners of one’s mind—the stuff you’d prefer to ignore.  It’s all of those silly vanities and conceits that people cling to.  This film just lays them all out there on the table for the audience to examine and pick apart.  It’s all quite draining—especially if you’re feeling particularly human at the time you decide to watch this movie.

It’s a shame that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to enjoy this film properly, because all the critics generally seemed to love it.  However, with the mood I was in, the movie just made me irritated and tired.  I’m intrigued by Steve Coogan’s style of filmmaking.  He has a way of fusing fiction and reality, so that you aren’t completely sure which parts are details from his real life, and which are contrived.  It’s especially hard since Coogan plays characters that are very close to himself (and are conveniently named Steve) in so many films.  This little element keeps viewers on their toes.

The idea behind this film is pretty interesting.  Steve and Rob are a pair of friends.  The story follows the two on a plausibly real car trip between buddies, through the countryside of Northern England.  Although the scenarios are all fictional, the two guys interact as they normally would as friends.  They improvise many of their jokes and lines.  This formats offers a pretty convincing glimpse into the relationship between two adult, male friends.  However, the intimate nature of this friendship may make the film a little inaccessible to outsiders.  It feels so personal to the two main characters that I think viewers will inevitably feel as if they are missing something.  I’m not sure whether this was intentional or not.  I’ll give Coogan and Brydon the benefit of the doubt and guess that it was intended.  The humor in this mockumentary isn’t for everyone.  It’s pretty quirky and awkward.  But, if you go for Steve Coogan’s brand of self-effacing comedy, I think it’s worth checking out.