Movie Review – Trip to Spain

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return to play themselves for a third time, while sampling fancy cuisine, performing their finest impersonations, and tasting fine wine in a Trip to Spain (2017). 

With this third installment, director Michael Winterbottom seems to follow the same pattern as their previous two films together (The Trip (2010), and The Trip to Italy (2014)). All three films begin with Steve contacting Rob to ask if Rob can accompany Steve on a road trip to sample and rate cuisine at varying locations. Along the way and while enjoying their meals, the pair talk pop culture and randomly break into impressions of movie stars, often setting the celebrities into humorous scenarios and competing to decide which impression is more convincing.

In the first film, The Trip, Steve was introduced as a man moving on from a previous marriage, who still has contact with his children and ex-wife, yet aggressively pursues younger women and rarely enjoys spending time alone. Rob was introduced as the family man, who appreciates his wife and children and takes any opportunitity to contact them whenever possible. They rarely discuss their personal lives, except to comment on any recent updates. Their time is spent discussing any and everything that comes to mind. It was their casual conversations and humorous scenarios in the first film that created something voyeuristially and cinematically  appealing to watch.

The Trip to Italy had the duo dive right into what they did best – drive, eat, rate, then impersonate. This time, Winderbottom chose to conseal most of he secondary characters introduced in the first film – they were only heard and not seen, until near the end of the film. Phone calls with trip updates and schedule changes kept those characters relevant, but mainly background.

it seems like Winterbottom realized the need to include the supportive characters this third time around in The Trip to Spain. Rob’s family has grown and his children and wife are included  for Rob’s send off. Steve has more contact with current and former flames throughout their third trip. With each film, the pair comment about their ages and aging, but neither of them express a desire to quit touring the country and it’s cuisine. Where they were once professional partners, by the third film Steve and Rob appear to be best friends with much more in common.

In this film, the guys include impressions of John Hurt and Mick Jagger, to add to their existing and ongoing impressions of Michael Caine, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Marlon Brando from the previous films,

if you’re a fan of these two fellas and of the previous two films, go see The Trip to Spain.