Claire Keelan, comedy, Cordelia Bugeja, Kareem Alkabbani, Marta Barrio, Michael Winterbottom, movies, Rebecca Johnson, reviews, Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, The Trip to Greece, Tim Leach
May 23, 2020
by Carla Hay
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Culture Representation: Taking place in Greece and briefly in Turkey, the comedy “The Trip to Greece” has a predominantly white cast (with some Asian representation) representing the middle-class and upper-class.
Culture Clash: Two British actors/comedians take a trip to Greece, where they sometimes argue over history, culture and their status in the entertainment industry.
Culture Audience: “The Trip to Greece” will appeal mostly to people who are fans of “The Trip” movie series and witty, Anglo-centric comedy.
When British actors/comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon made the 2010 TV comedy series “The Trip,” which was later edited into the 2011 feature film “The Trip,” they probably didn’t expect at the time that it would turn into a series of feature films, all directed by Michael Winterbottom. What followed were 2014’s “The Trip to Italy,” 2017’s “The Trip to Spain” and 2020’s “The Trip to Greece.” Each film centers on a series of lively semi-improvised conversations that Coogan and Brydon (who play versions of themselves) have in a different country while going to historical places and eating at different restaurants. (They visited northern England in “The Trip.”)
“The Trip to Greece” will please fans of “The Trip” movie series, but it should also win over new fans, especially if people like jokes filled with back-and-forth banter, deliberately cheesy puns and dueling celebrity impersonations. That’s the signature comedy of Coogan and Brydon when they’re together in “The Trip” movies, which also feature the two entertainers eating sumptuous meals in gorgeous locations.
People don’t have to see the previous “Trip” movies to enjoy “The Trip to Greece,” but it helps if you want a better understanding of the main characters in the series. Coogan and Brydon are not best friends, but they are friendly enough with each other that they call on each other when one of them has an assignment to travel somewhere outside of London and get paid to write about their trip, either for a newspaper article or for a book. Each trip lasts for six days.
As is the case with many comedy duos, the two comedians are opposites in several ways. Coogan and Brydon were both born in the same year (1965), but Coogan is the “alpha male” of the pair. He likes to remind Brydon in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that he’s the more famous and more commercially successful of the two. A running joke in “The Trip” movies is Coogan frequently mentioning the prestigious awards he’s been nominated for or won.
Coogan, a Manchester native, also considers himself to be more sophisticated and more intelligent than Wales native Brydon, who is the more easygoing one of the pair. Although they are both fathers, their personal lives are also very different: Brydon is happily married and didn’t start a family until he was in his 40s (he has a 10-year daughter and a 4-year-old son in the movie), while Coogan is a womanizing divorcé whose kids are all grown up by the time this story takes place. (Brydon’s and Coogan’s families in “The Trip” movie series are also fictionalized.)
In “The Trip to Greece,” Coogan’s plan is to do an accelerated recreation of Odysseus’ journey in “The Odyssey” for a book that he’s been commissioned to write. His book publisher wants to tie in the story of “The Odyssey” into Coogan’s personal odyssey in the entertainment business. The two pals start their trip in Turkey, where their needling banter immediately begins. When Brydon tells Coogan that the book’s concept will just be ripping off “The Odyssey,” Coogan curtly replies, “Originality is overrated.”
While in Turkey, a very meta moment comes when a man named Kareem (played by Kareem Alkabbani), who’s dining outside at a restaurant, recognizes Coogan as Coogan and Brydon are about to drive off in their rental car. In real life, Alkabbani had a small supporting role as a Syrian refugee in the 2020 film “Greed,” which starred Coogan and was directed by Winterbottom. In “Greed,” Coogan played a billionaire throwing a 60th birthday party for himself on the Greek island of Mykonos.
In “The Trip to Greece,” the Kareem character stops Coogan and tells him that it’s nice to see him again since they worked each other in Mykonos. At first Coogan doesn’t recognize Kareem, but then he remembers the role that Kareem played in the movie. Although the title of the movie is not mentioned in “The Trip to Greece,” fans of Coogan will know that they are talking about “Greed.”
Kareem asks Coogan and Brydon for a ride to a Syrian refugee camp. Brydon doesn’t think they have time, but Coogan is happy to oblige the request. After Coogan and Brydon drop off Kareem at the refugee camp and mention how horrible it must be to live there, Brydon asks Coogan if he remembers Kareem’s name. Coogan tries to pretend that he does, but he can’t remember, but Brydon does. This scene demonstrates the contrast between the two men, as Coogan is shown to be very self-absorbed, while Brydon is the more empathetic of the two men.
Throughout the course of the movie, Coogan and Brydon visit Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the Ancient Agora of Athens, the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, the island of Hydra, the Caves of Diros, Nestor’s Palace, Niokastro Fortress in Pylos and Ancient Stagira. As for the restaurants, they include Squirrel in Halkidiki; Karagatsi in Damouchari; Varoulko Seaside in Piraeus; Omilos in Hydra; and Pirgus Mavromichali in Limeni.
Singing pop tunes while driving in a car is another characteristic of “The Trip” movies. In “The Trip to Greece,” Coogan (who always drives) gets visibly annoyed when Brydon begins singing Frankie Valli’s “Grease” from the “Grease” movie soundtrack.
Coogan asks Brydon, “Are you singing ‘Grease’ because we’re in Greece?” Brydon replies, “When I’m in Greece, I hear the word ‘grease’ and I think ‘Grease.'” Coogan then says, “Yeah, but it’s not the same thing. It’s a homophone.” Brydon responds, “How dare you! I’m not a homophone! I’m a heterosexual!”
“The Trip to Greece,” just like the previous “Trip” movies, also features a visit from Coogan’s personal assistant Emma (played by Claire Keelan) and London-based Spanish photographer Yolanda (played by Marta Barrio), who’s an on-again/off-again sexual fling for Coogan. Emma and Yolanda are briefly on each trip to do a photo shoot with Coogan and Brydon. In “The Trip to Greece,” the photo shoot includes the two comedians posing with gold-plated sock and buskin masks (the symbols of comedy and tragedy) on handles. And not surprisingly, when it’s mentioned how the masks resemble BAFTA trophies, a pompous Coogan uses it as another opportunity to remind everyone how many BATFAs he’s won.
As for the celebrity impersonations that people have come to expect in “The Trip” films, Coogan and Brydon once again have dueling impressions of Michael Caine and Roger Moore. There are also spoofs of Ian McKellen, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Ray Winstone, Laurence Olivier, Dustin Hoffman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Werner Herzog.
A discussion about Alexander the Great being a gangster of ancient times leads into “Godfather” imitations of Brando and De Niro. And then Coogan goes off on a hilarious satire of Henry VIII in a Winstone mobster voice. Later in the film, a discussion about Olivier than veers into Coogan and Brydon doing voice parodies of Hoffman’s roles in “The Graduate,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Tootsie” and “Rain Man.”
But the most stinging takedown is about Jagger. The two comedians poke fun at the Rolling Stones singer for still fathering children in his 70s—in 2016, Jagger’s eighth child was born when he was 73—as well Jagger’s heart surgery in 2019 that caused a Rolling Stones tour to be postponed. There’s a fairly lengthy bit where Coogan and Brydon do a satire of what Jagger would have been like as a hospital patient, and the comedians also marvel at how Jagger was able to recover so well from the surgery.
Brydon quips about Jagger becoming a father again at an age when most people are grandparents or great-grandparents: “Pretty soon, he’ll be the only man in Britain with an earlier bedtime than his child.” Brydon also takes a jab at Rolling Stones guitarist Richards, by imitating the rock star’s throaty laugh, which sounds like a lifetime accumulation of cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. Dyron says of Richards’ signature guffaw: “When he laughs, it’s like the last death throes of Muttley.”
Getting older and mortality are noticeable themes throughout “The Trip to Greece,” as Brydon and Coogan have conversations reassuring themselves that they’re in their prime, compared to the senior-citizen-age entertainers whom they love to imitate. But underneath their bravado, Brydon and Coogan also convey insecurity and dread about what getting older means for their careers. (In “The Trip to Greece,” Coogan is distressed over being recently rejected for a film by Oscar-winning “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle.)
There were hints of that self-doubt in previous “The Trip” films, as womanizer Coogan openly lamented to Brydon about how women don’t look at him the same way as they did when he was younger, so he uses his fame to maximum advantage in order to attract women. And all “The Trip” movies in the series have Coogan being insecure about people thinking he might be gay, since he often makes jokes or reminds everyone in his orbit that he’s heterosexual. (In the first “Trip,” Coogan openly expresses fear and discomfort at the possibility of sharing a bed with Brydon, when there’s a possibility that have to sleep in the same hotel room after a booking mix-up.)
In “The Trip to Greece,” the need to reaffirm their virility and masculinity is even more pronounced, as Brydon and Coogan have a swimming race against each other at one of Greece’s scenic cliffside locales. It’s partly to impress three swimsuit-clad young women who are sunning themselves nearby, but it’s also so Brydon and Coogan can prove something to themselves—that they’ve still “got it” and aren’t over-the-hill old coots.
“The Trip to Greece” isn’t all fun and games, since there are some serious elements to all of the “Trip” films that address issues of deep fears and insecurities. Each movie includes dreams (that are sometimes nightmares) that Coogan and Bryon have while they’re on each trip. These dreams usually have to do with how others perceive them, what they wish would happen, or what they want their legacies to be.
“The Trip” series also shows how each man’s personality and personal choices have affected their lives at home. The previous “Trip” movies showed glimpses of the contrasts in Coogan’s and Brydon’s home lives, even down to the cinematography for each. Brydon’s happy home life with his wife Sally (played by Rebecca Johnson) is lit in warm and inviting colors. Coogan, despite having an active love life, can often be standoffish and dismissive, which is why he ultimately ends up alone at his cold and sterile home.
“The Trip to Greece” is the most poignant film of the series because it shows how Coogan has to come to grips with how his life choices have affected his family. While he’s on the trip, he’s frequently in contact by phone with his 20-year-old son Joe (played by Tim Leach), who’s in Manchester with Coogan’s ex-wife Katherine (played by Cordelia Bugeja), as they keep vigil over Coogan’s ailing father. And if you’re familiar with “The Odyssey,” then you’ll know there are obvious parallels to that story and the concept of a father coming home to his son after a long time away.
On the surface, “The Trip” movies seem like two guys making jokes and sometimes bickering while they get to frolic around glamorous locations and dine at fancy restaurants during an all-expenses paid trip. But “The Trip to Greece” is also really a commentary on the fact that even privileged people can’t escape from personal problems while away from home on a swanky getaway. How to cope with those issues is the real challenge once the trip is over.
IFC Films released “The Trip to Greece” on digital and VOD on May 22, 2020.