When I was a kid, every self-imagined class clown had an impression of Fred Rogers (“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”). Not a single one of these impersonations was unique or added any insight into the persona or the man. More importantly, they weren’t funny. But that didn’t stop them from happening. Now, while professional comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are, humor-wise, certainly several cuts above the boys in my third grade class, I leave The Trip to Italy with a similar low-grade nausea of having put-up with a brand of comedy that is best explored in small amounts.
Sequel to the immensely popular overwhelming favorite most enjoyable what was clearly a film: The Trip, The Trip to Italy makes the same two comedians annoy one another while eating great food. The catch here is the meals are now mostly pasta. Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan may well be best friends, but here they come across as teen brothers aggravated by shared spaced on a family vacation. These hopeless narcissists are constantly battling – Rob, like an insecure younger brother constantly lobbying for approval, tries everything he can to win Steve over, while Steve, who hasn’t smiled since Hamlet 2, is Hell-bent on one-upping his pal, correcting and re-correcting him at every turn.
Please to correct if I’ve given the wrong impression. These two men do have talent. Both of them do a Michael Caine impersonation that will make you weep. After that ends, however, just twenty minutes in, the rest is just B material. Brydon did make me laugh loud with an improvised conversation between he and a Pompeii victim. I can see where his core audience gives him applause. But the Caine success and the Italian villas prompted something of a “Mafia-off” between these gentlemen, which quickly degraded into painful dueling Al Pacinos.
Yes, Rob and Steve. You can indeed come closer to the voice and mannerisms of Al Pacino than I can. I contend, however, that my failure to offer any impression at all makes my contribution superior.
Steve is the grumpier of the two; I get the feeling he really doesn’t want to be here. He’s especially bothered by Rob’s insistence on an Alanis Morissette CD for touring. Rob seems a special kind of insecure where he 
cannot actually be himself in tense moments. Both men seem to play a game (Steve even says so) that you get to use everything you have. If people love you “only” because you’re famous, so what?
Rob Brydon did not actually get cast in the Michael Mann movie of which he boasts. He auditions and “gets the part” as a subplot of this screenplay. I’m not sure where that came from; it is evident to the audience that Rob Brydon can’t possibly be your first choice for mock-Mafia accountant, let alone the actual Mafia accountant that the Mann script wanted. I’m guessing Michael Winterbottom just wanted to add some drama … which makes me wonder about the tryst in the middle of the film. The Trip to Italy is filmed like a documentary – it’s two guys, and two guys we know, traveling, eating and riffing. Was there a script which called for some drama? That’s odd; it’s like JCVD, where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself as himself, but the movie was fiction.
I’m thinking Mafia goons are the current Fred Rogers. Everybody loves to show off an exaggerated Italian accent. Do we all wish we were gangsters? Who knows? Watching these two mar Italian scenery with mediocre humor was like “Amazing Race” except the prize for winning a leg is a bad Roger Moore impression.
Steve and Rob together once more
Eating and joking on Italian tour
Scenery did rate
And the food looked great
But stomaching the “humor” was quite a chore
Not Rated, 108 Minutes
D: Michael Winterbottom
W: Michael Winterbottom
Genre: Not-so-Amazing Race
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Family members of Brydon/Coogan who hope they can be in a sequel
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: People who hate impersonations
