While The Trip to Spain might not have been as sharp as its Italian predecessor, it’s still a lot of fun with some truly laugh-out-loud lines, and just seeing Coogan and Brydon on the screen again was wonderful.
The Trip to Spain
(2017)
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama
Shout Factory | NR – 108 min. – $24.97 | December 12, 2017
Date Published: 11/26/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.75/5 |
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“Tell you what: if his grandmother tasted like this, I’d have a nibble.” With the seemingly endless barrage of superhero franchises, and don’t get me wrong I do generally enjoy them, it is nice to see some more low key ones. The Trip to Spain is the third entry that began with The Trip that began in 2010, then The Trip to Italy. Scenes from this series is cobbled together from the BBC television series with each season — 6 episodes each — comprising one of these films. Sadly, as far as I can tell, these never had aired in the United States.
This entry finds Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing versions of themselves, taking a ferry from England to Spain and from there on a road trip visiting various eateries, tasting local cuisine, all for a newspaper story, while Coogan is also using the trip to retrace his steps from his youth in order to write a book. In between, as in the first two films, the friends trade barbs and attempt to outdo each other’s celebrity impersonations while also reflecting on their lives and entering their golden age (i.e. 50s). There really isn’t much of a plot behind The Trip to Spain as I’d wager 90% is pretty much improvised by Coogan and Brydon. Sure, there is some character development mainly surrounding Coogan, his girlfriend and his son, both of which were touched upon previously, but otherwise the majority of the film has the pair working off one another, all the while eating some fine Spanish delicacies.
The Trip to Spain was once again directed by Michael Winterbottom, who helmed the first two, and he does a good job showing off the beautiful Spanish scenery while also keeping the comedic pacing of a film with only the aim to amuse Coogan and Brydon and in turn, the audience as a whole, and for me, this was a treat to watch and can’t wait for the next entry. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5 |
| The only feature included is the Theatrical Trailer (2:22; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| As a travelogue, The Trip to Spain actually showcases the country quite nicely with beautiful scenery in between these two dudes doing impressions while eating a meal. As it is, detail is pretty good and colors were generally bright throughout. |
AUDIO – 3.0/5 |
| Although this has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, at times it might as well have been 1.0 as the bulk of the film is strictly dialogue coming via the center channel. Now, some of the fronts to get some usage with the semi-melancholy score and a bit of ambient noises, but otherwise it’s a simple, efficient enough lossless track. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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While The Trip to Spain might not have been as sharp as its Italian predecessor, it’s still a lot of fun with some truly laugh-out-loud lines, and just seeing Coogan and Brydon on the screen again was wonderful. Now if only the BBC would air or release the series here in the States… The Blu-ray released through Shout Factory is sadly light on the features but the video is good and audio adequate. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.