The Trip to Spain (2017)

Actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon embark on a six-part episodic road trip through Europe. This time they're in Spain, sampling the restaurants, eateries, and sights along the way.

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Stars:

Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Rebecca Johnson

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Coogan	...	Steve Coogan
Rob Brydon	...	Rob Brydon
Rebecca Johnson	...	Sally
Claire Keelan	...	Emma
Marta Barrio	...	Yolanda
Margo Stilley	...	Mischa
Kyle Soller	...	Jonathan
Justin Edwards	...	Greg
Kerry Shale	...	Matt
Tom Clegg	...	Busker
Tim Leach	...	Joe
Tessa Walker	...	Chloe
Charlie Jeffreys	...	Charlie
Aurore Delion	...	Aurore
Victor M. Magaldi	...	Altamira Cave Guide

Storyline

Due to the success of the first two trips to Northern England and Italy, the Guardian, this time in conjunction with the New York Times, asks Steve Coogan to write restaurant reviews from another week long trip, this time through Spain. Rob Brydon, Steve's companion on the other two trips, is already aware of the trip, and agrees to go in favoring it over the alternative. Beyond Steve's planned itinerary which will take them south through the center of the country to mirror a trip he did when he was eighteen, they will necessarily embark on some Don Quixote/ Sancho Panza escapades due in part to the current Terry Gilliam movie project on the pair. Like the other two trips, Steve and Rob are accompanied by a plethora of celebrities, from Mick Jagger to Michael Caine to Hugh Grant to a pair of Bonds in the form of their impersonations, but unlike those other two trips, both seem centered and grounded in all aspects of their lives. Rob is settled in his life as loving husband to Sally ...

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Plot Keywords:

spain | restaurant critic | restaurant review | skype | dinner conversation | 

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Taglines:

The two amigos are back.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon talk about the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" sung by Noel Harrison and it is played at the film's ending. A different version of this song by The King's Singers was played at the end of the final episode of Coogan's TV show, I'm Alan Partridge: Alan Wide Shut (2002), where Alan goes to see the unsold copies of his autobiography being pulped.

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Goofs

Steve says while at lunch that a version of 12 Years a Slave was made by HBO "about ten years ago". No such version exists but PBS did make a version in 1984 entitled Solomon Northup's Odyssey.

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Quotes

Rob: Do you know what the Welsh word for "Carrot" is?
Steve: No
Rob: Moron

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Connections

Spoofs Get Carter (1971)

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Soundtracks

Diary of Love
composed by Michael Nyman

User Reviews

"The Trip" series is aging like fine wine, as are its characters

If you've come along for the other "Trips" with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, you clearly know what you're in for and what you want out of "The Trip to Spain," the third installment of the British TV mini-series cut into a feature-length film about two middle-aged friends on a food tour for a magazine.

"Spain" does not mess with the formula. We get all the impersonations, stunning vistas, food porn, literature/poetry references, etc. that we signed up for. The only thing that has changed are where these fictional versions of Steve and Rob are in terms of life stage and how they're dealing with their newly entered 50s in both their careers and personal lives.

If anything, the chemistry between Coogan and Brydon (and director Michael Winterbottom) has only gotten stronger. They're able to devise hilarious bits on the fly even more naturally than before. Unlike "The Trip" and "The Trip to Italy," almost no drama unfolds during the course of the film. Steve and Rob's never-ending game of one-upsmanship is what largely keeps this film afloat, though they each do deal independently with struggles regarding love and family.

As such, "Spain" ends up filling in the portraits of these two friends and their lives with more details, as if the painting was sketched out in "The Trip" and started to be filled in in "Italy." With just about everything else in this movie remaining a constant, we're able to spend more time looking more closely at those details - and by the same token, Winterbottom can add more nuance. The depiction of Steve as Don Quixote and Rob as Sancho Panza creates a solid focal point to better examine these characters, who it turns out are quite like their respective Cervantes creations.

So little about "The Trip" films could be considered mainstream that it feels odd to describe them as cinematic comfort food, but to the set of tastes that have taken to them so far, they are exactly that. The sense of humor, their dynamic and Winterbottom's naturalist approach are so reliable that even with minimal changes from film to film, the series ages well. "Italy" initially felt like a retread, but "Spain" feels like an improvement just by virtue of time, all of its elements and flavors improving and congealing with patience and experience.

All this makes the film's twist ending that much more unexpected. Suddenly there's a hint of plot continuity and it's as though we have no idea what to do with it. How the series proceeds will mean everything, but for now it's just a dash of mystery in an otherwise familiar and enjoyable film.

~Steven C

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

3 August 2017 (Australia)

Also Known As:

The Trip to Spain

Filming Locations:

Spain

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$40,875, 13 August 2017

Gross USA:

$1,157,604

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,988,841

Company Credits

Production Co:

Revolution Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min (IFC library print)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1