A Quick Movie Suggestion

The other night I went into the living room after doing some reading for class. My roommates were catching up on Curb and Entourage on-demand and they were in between episodes. We have Time Warner Cable and if you're familiar with the provider, they promote their on-demand options in the on-demand menu. To my surprise, one of the films that popped up was one in which I had been very interested in when it was in theaters, but didn't have the opportunity to see.

The film is The Trip. It was a limited release film that was playing for a short time at The Angelica in Dallas, but I was unable to find the time to head up there to see it. It is somewhat of a dark comedy in which most of the humor derives from the interaction between the two main characters. Steve Coogen and Rob Brydon, two English actors, play themselves on a trip through northern England to eat at and review a series of fine dining establishments. Their relationship is one of almost forced friendship through work. Brydon is an enjoyable character who loves his life and makes a living with his talented impressions. Coogen is somewhat of a sad individual who finds his friend to be a bit unnerving, but can't help but seem to enjoy his company at times. Their companionship throughout the film is a classic "road trip" humor filled with disagreements and constant bickering. But this isn't your typical road trip comedy. Insight into each character's lives gives a very human characteristic to the film which in turn develops the characters and the somewhat darker side I spoke of earlier. I also particularly liked it because it revolved around food, and when you combine food and film, you've got me.

Please don't be turned off by it because it's an English film. It is a far cry from the zany British slapstick comedies and is actually incredibly funny. If you like comedies that aren't punching you in the face with one liners and crazy happenstances, but instead make the viewer actually listen and understand human interaction, then you'll find yourself laughing. I recommend you try to find The Trip on-demand or in Redbox or Netflix or whatever your form of "consumers are too lazy to go to the theater or a video rental store anymore" service of choice.