The Trip

Converted from a six-episode BBC series, The Trip reunites comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon with director Michael Winterbottom, the trio also responsible for the truly bizarre Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. The mostly improvised dialog is wrapped around two very different lives in the spotlight. Coogan, the better-known of the stars in the U.S., embraces the public notion that he’s kind of an ass. Brydon, conversely, is fairly famous in the U.K., and is presented here as a family man with his head on straight. During their road trip—a writing assignment Coogan has taken for a culinary magazine—the actors duel their estimable celebrity impressions. Some are expected (Sean Connery), others not (Stephen Hawking, Liam Neeson). Funny but definitely an acquired taste, The Trip doesn’t accomplish much, but how many road trips actually do?