From acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom comes the follow up to the BAFTA winning first series The Trip. Four years after they ate their way round the North of England Brydon and Coogan take their own Grand Tour around Italy, following in the footsteps of Byron and Shelley. The Trip to Italy reunites two men for more delectable food, sharp-elbowed rivalry and plenty of laughs.
Your enjoyment of 'The Trip To Italy' will probably depend to a large extent on your tolerance for the comic stylings of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Well personally, I'm a huge fan, and after enjoying the original series of 'The Trip' - their highly-original travelogue / restaurant-review / impressions / improvisation / drama mashup that first aired in 2010 - I was delighted to see them return to the small screen with a follow-up earlier this year.
While this second series can't hope to have quite the same impact as the first (when no-one really knew what to expect from the show, and pretty much everyone was pleasantly surprised) it manages to function both as a refinement of the original formula and - to some extent - an inversion of it. What I mean by this is that the format of 'The Trip To Italy' is virtually identical to the original, but the freshness of the Italian setting, along with the new characterisation and plot elements that are inserted into this second series, help to provide a few twists that stop it from feeling like a mere retread of the original.
The basic structure and conceit of the show remains the same: Coogan and Brydon (playing fictionalised versions of themselves) are undertaking a restaurant-review tour for the Observer magazine, and each episode revolves around a meal that they enjoy at one of these establishments. The bulk of each episode is taken up with the pair's conversation during this meal - which can range across all manner of subjects, but which usually ends up culminating in a competition to see who can do the best impression of a particular actor or TV personality, often leading to extended, surreal riffs involving these impressions. Then, the bill arrives and the pair head off to their hotel rooms for the night to contemplate their personal lives.
But within that format, it turns out that there's quite a lot of room for reinvention. Because in 'The Trip To Italy', numerous subtle changes have been made in order to make this second series feel like a very different beast to the initial batch of six episodes. Most noticeably, Coogan and Brydon's roles have been reversed: while in the first series Steve was the callous womaniser and Rob the committed family man, this second 'Trip' sees Coogan resolve to tone down his playboy antics and make more of a commitment to his (fictional) son, while Brydon is seduced both physically - by a local tour guide - and psychologically, as his ego becomes swollen when a career in Hollywood looms.
Brydon feels like he's very much in the driving seat for this series (often literally, as many amusing scenes involve the two chatting as they drive a Mini to their next gastronomical appointment, taking in a few tourist sites on the way), with Coogan playing off him: again, quite an inversion of the template of the first series.
Despite the care that has obviously been taken over the subtler elements of characterisation, however, it's the pair's rambling interactions that remain the true heart of the show. It's very difficult to capture in words exactly what is funny about, say, their take on the recent Batman movies (as both of them take turns to impersonate Michael Caine, Christian Bale and Tom Hardy in an improvised sketch that grows progressively more absurd), or their amusingly austere impressions of Roger Moore (on one occasion hilariously singing along to Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill - the only album they brought with them - in Moore's monotonous voice), or the look of bemusement that sweeps across non-British people's faces whenever Rob attempts his Ronnie Corbett.
But there's something so authentic and natural-feeling about these silly vignettes that you just can't help but get swept up in them, and end up laughing along with their nonsense as though you were sitting in the restaurant with them (and this DVD gives you even more of it to enjoy, with extended and deleted scenes for those who simply can't get enough of the pair's antics). It's like taking a lovely, relaxing foreign holiday with a couple of old friends who you know will be perfect company.
The absolute best moments come when Rob and Steve appear to be genuinely amusing each other, far beyond the scripted requirements of the story. There's one scene in particular - in which Brydon does an improvised impression of Michael Parkinson interviewing Coogan - where Coogan is obviously struggling to remain composed, as Rob's impressions elicit the kind of surprised and delighted laughter that's impossible to fake. As much as this is a fictionalised programme, the rapport and relationship between Brydon and Coogan is clearly very genuine, and it adds an extra layer of warmth and enjoyment to the show to realise that these two clowns are finding each other just as amusing as we are.
Along the way, director Michael Winterbottom captures some quite beautiful Italian scenery, with lovely, lingering shots of hazy sunsets and impressive coastal vistas that are probably responsible for half of the UK's holiday bookings to the country in the last couple of months. In fact, my only real complaint about this DVD being that it's only currently available in standard-definition: these shots are truly good enough to warrant release on Blu-Ray. For now, though, this is a decent enough package that's available either on its own or as part of a double-pack with the first series.
'The Trip To Italy' is a rare thing, in that it's a follow-up to a strong first series of a comedy show that actually manages to match its predecessor: it's just as funny, the food looks just as good (although there's slightly less focus on the eateries this time around), and there's just as much small-scale human drama to get your teeth into. Kick off your slippers, grab a glass of wine and enjoy one of the funniest and most original BBC series of recent years.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. From acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom comes the follow up to the BAFTA winning first series The Trip. Four years after they ate their way round the North of England Brydon and Coogan take their own Grand Tour around Italy, following in the footsteps of Byron and Shelley. The Trip to Italy reunites two men for more delectable food, sharp-elbowed rivalry and plenty of laughs.
Michael Winterbottom directs this documentary following entertainers Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they travel to Italy to retrace the steps of the legendary Romantic poets Byron and Shelley. The programme follows on from 'The Trip' (2010), in which Coogan and Brydon travelled around the north of England sampling local hospitality and conversing on matters of interest. This time the pair enjoy Italian cuisine as they visit sites relating to the experiences of Byron and Shelley in the country. The poets, who left England following persistent outrage and threats relating to their social and political views, found refuge in Italy and particularly Pisa, where they often dined, hunted and discussed poetry together.
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