The Trip to Italy: Buon Viaggio!

The Trip to Italy is a mouthwatering movie in which pals Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon tour Italy in a Mini Cooper convertible, sampling haute cuisine as food critics for the UK’s Observer. It’s equal parts road-trip movie, buddy comedy, and foodie porn. If you find yourself dipping into any of those cinematic sauces on a regular basis, you certainly won’t go wrong with this particular selection.

And if none of those categories appeal to you? Well, I still think you won’t go wrong with this film. Between the lush Italian backdrop and Rob Brydon’s hilarious impersonations of Al Pacino and Christian Bale, it’s simply got too much going for it. In the spirit of full disclosure, however, I must confess: I might have a tiny crush on Steve Coogan. I haven’t the foggiest notion why, but let’s just set that aside for now and take a closer look at the irrefutable facts of the situation.

The Trip to Italy is the unlikely sequel to 2010’s The Trip, in which Coogan and Brydon take a road trip through the rural north of England sampling – you guessed it – haute cuisine as food critics for the UK’s Observer. I say “unlikely sequel” because the original Trip grossed only $2M at the box office, which means you probably didn’t see it. No matter – you needn’t have seen it in order to appreciate this latest installment, especially when it comes to the humor. I’m not ashamed to say I fell for every joke they proffered, from the urbane to the profane.

Both Trips were brought to you by revered British screenwriter and director Michael Winterbottom, and it’s his genius behind the camera that has people walking out of the theater asking, “Was that fictional or not?” Although much of Italy was improvised by the two leading men, it was indeed fictional. However, if you want to go through life thinking it was more real than not, I don’t think anyone involved would mind. I personally can’t wait to find out where our roving food critics are headed to next! Here’s hoping they save us all a seat at the table.