The combination of tranquil music with beautiful landscapes mixed with heart felt friendship just touches me in an unexpected way, maybe its the reminder to take a reflective look at my life I'm not quite sure but I get a wave of happiness from start to finish every time I watch.
I will one day do my own trip through Europe stopping to eat delicious food at restaurants with awesome views, sailing from one island to the next on clear blues seas. One day.
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Rellacenahs4 March 2020
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I kind of enjoyed the other two movies in the series. These two actor friends are visiting a foreign country, eating the best foods, making fun of each other and competing with each other in trivia and acting impersonations and sometimes insulting each other with great gusto. Meanwhile, there is a very serious undercurrent of who they really are as people and how they handle real life situations.
I liked Trip to Greece, too, don't get me wrong, but it felt like it missed a lot of what could have been. There was the food, which was only seen in passing, they never really discuss it. Then there were the impersonations, much more than in the other movies, but also more obscure. Without knowing what they are referring to, they missed their mark with me. And then there was a really important personal thing at the end of the film, that not only cuts their trip short, but has the potential to show how the characters really feel about each other in times of trouble. I get that the actors are not great buddies in real life and they do play themselves, so probably it wouldn't have been very emotional in reality, either, and they are also British, so there, but it was a movie opportunity missed. And it was the director's choice: "Funnily enough, I did a version where I was very emotional. I wept as I would when I re-emulated some of those scenes. Then Michael wanted me to do it again and just hold it all back". And if you really want to ask, the movie is inspired by reality, but the event did not happen during filming.
Bottom line: the series was both refreshing and easy to watch and this is the last one they are going to make. I personally feel that they should do another movie, just to end the series right. As it stands, one could watch the films in any order, with perhaps the exception of the first which explains the setup. I enjoyed this the least of the four, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. -
ferguson-621 May 2020Greetings again from the darkness. Now is either the absolute best time to release this movie, or it's the worst. During a pandemic with directives to stay home, you would be excused for classifying a cinematic travel trip by funny buddies as either a harsh prank or a welcome fantasy. Director Michael Winterbottom is back for his fourth film in the franchise featuring wise-cracking pals Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. The first three were: THE TRIP (2010), THE TRIP TO ITALY (2014), and THE TRIP TO SPAIN (2017), and each were edited into feature films from their respective BBC Television series.
The players remain the same, as does the formula. Only the location provides a change-up. Beginning in Turkey near the historical site of Troy, complete with the photo op at the Trojan Horse monument, Coogan and Brydon are on a 6 day assignment to cover (mostly) the 10 year journey of Odysseus in Homer's "The Odyssey." The symmetry is noted in the film as this marks the tenth year since they first began traveling together.
The men make their way to Stagira (now Macedonia), the birthplace of Aristotle, as well as Hydra, Athens, Delphi, and Ithaca. Of course, at each destination, the boys stop for a ridiculously upscale gourmet meal at a world class restaurant that features a breathtaking view. It's during these savory meals, and in the car during the trip, and well, just about any other time, Coogan and Brydon continue their never-ending game of one-upsmanship. Impersonations, punchlines, and spirited verbal sparring are all done with the hope of making the other person laugh, or admit defeat. While the Michael Caine impersonation never makes an appearance, we do get dueling Mick Jaggers and Dustin Hoffmans, as well as moments for Werner Herzog, Ray Winstone, and Barry Gibb/Bee Gees (with "Grease" and "Staying Alive").
Stunning scenery and historic locations provide ammo for some of the banter between the two comics, including whether Alexander the Great was an original gangster. However, there is also an underlying message here. The two argue over who should wear the respective masks of comedy and tragedy while they are on the hallowed grounds of an ancient Greek Theatre, and Coogan makes the point that "Originality is overrated. Everything is derivative." This commentary applies not just to their own "Trip" franchise, but also to many other elements of society.
Perhaps there are a few too many aerial shots of their Range Rover traveling down a road, but the back country is so beautiful, we can't complain. The same goes for those restaurants. Sure it's torture to watch as they enjoy delicious food, but the scenery is unique to their locale. As we wonder when, or even if, we will ever be able to travel the globe again, perhaps the best lesson here is to value our time with friends and loved ones. A personal crisis is used for this series finale, though it also leaves us with the proclamation that that these trips have been "Mostly fun and games." So, "already enjoy." -
villanuevajancarlo16 November 2020It's probably just me, but I enjoyed this just as much as the previous ones. there's something relaxing about the whole thing. just random conversations, random impersonations, no excessive background music, and I enjoy the humor. there's also an underlying plot, Steve's career goes down as Rob's goes up. I'm not really sure what it has to do with anything with the rest of the movie though. most who reviewed this here have obviously not seen the previous installations and are expecting something entirely different. watch the first one (The Trip, 2010) and if you liked it you'll get the sequels. if you didn't enjoy it then this and the other two movies simply isn't for you.
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SnoopyStyle4 February 2021Best friends Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan travel around in Greece. Coogan is following in the footsteps of the Odysseus for his book.
There is something about this that is "already enjoy". This movie comes with automatic enjoyment imbedded in its substance. It is very much like the other previous movies. I do wonder if it could do more with the cooking other than the little snippets. There are a few things left on the table. They certainly talk about their age but they could have done some medical issues. One of them could twist an ankle out of nowhere. It's potential for comedy as a way to break up the eating. -
"The Trip To Greece" completes an intriguing, delicious and hilarious series of films wearing its heart on its sleeve. . In this comedy, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan travel from Troy to Ithaca following in the footsteps of the Odysseus in this final film of the series. . Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are a pair of excellent leads really playing off each other; you can't help but be in good company while watching them. The food is mouth-watering, the scenery is beautiful and the gags never get old. If you haven't seen this series of British films now is the time. I absolutely loved it. . Follow @snobmedia for more reviews!
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THE TRIP TO GREECE is a poignant and hilarious meditation on life -- art, family, friendship, history, success and struggles and aging, and death -- that follows formula. By now, audiences ought to be familiar with the central conceit of these "trip" films: comedian friends Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon spend a week traveling a location and dining together. In transit, and over courses, they wax philosophical and compete over comedy and their careers. Essentially, these films are about two men suffering their friendship with each other while life goes on around them -- there is always at least one important sub-plot happening back home that complicates their plans. That said, formulaic needn't imply stale, and this presumably final installment of the series is very self-aware, a fact which helps it justify itself. If you are unsold on these films, this isn't the one that will sell you, and if you are unfamiliar with them, I'd start with the original, obviously... but if you have enjoyed any of the previous trips, this one is also worth taking, as you can live vicariously through them in seeing some gorgeous sights and savory dishes, especially now.
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moviemom2320 January 2021Love the Music, the restaurants, the locations and of course Steve and Rob. I didn't even know a fourth one existed. So glad to see it on Hulu. Greek scenery is breathtakingly beautiful! And watching the chefs is the best. This one does not disappoint I love it and the themes of these guys soul searching and growing older. Don't miss it and see it free on Hulu!
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byron-11620 May 2020The Trip to Greece has several stunning off the beaten path locales and avoids touristy spots even if important - such as the Acropolis. In addition this film is also quite entertaining. It's well worth a watch.
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eisiek20 June 2020With their sophomoric annoying banter continuing without a stop, they never took time to appreciate any of the amazing food or gorgeous views.. You didn't always know where they were, nor what they were eating. There was never a hint of Greek culture, Greek people, nor a note of Greek music. They might as well have stayed home and continued their adolescent conversations without going to all the trouble of traveling.
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edgeofreality22 May 2021A truly rich experience, showing how comedy and the need to talk and just be funny - and these two men are incredibly talented and funny- cannot finally save one from the pains and loss of death. This movie took me for a true journey and surprised and delighted me. I have always admired Winterbottom as a director and feel he is one of the best currently working. Cohan and his counterpart - whose name I don't know- are remarkably open and generous performers. In a time when travel is restricted this film is very much welcome. I particularly liked how the end contrasted Coogan's loss with his friend's understanding of just how much he loved his wife. Aside from this, the film is beautiful to look at and features several amusing cultural references that are peculiarly tied with Greece in western minds.
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efd-1046729 September 2020Great interaction and witty conversation, but they push the intelligent witty chat a bit too far, while okay you start to find them annoying.
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mikerhaworth23 May 2020Incredibly boring movie. They speak about nothing most of the time and taking phone calls from family members during the film is hokey. The film does not really show much of Greece and is two hours of two 50 year men talking about gibberish. Like watching Seinfeld but without the humor.
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patientjoel12 October 2021I readily admit I was already a fan of the WILTY host and Alan Partridge actor. Ten laugh out loud moments in the first twenty minutes basically had me as an immediate fan of this film. As it dragged on though, the laughs dried up and watching almost became frustrating and strangely, I think that was deliberate. An allegory of the actors' supposed lives if you will. Heading for a 9/10 for me at the start, but ultimately a 7 seems about right.
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js-6613021 May 2020As our travelling pair of pompously verbose sparring partners wind down a curvy road, Steve Coogan tries repeatedly to dislodge Rob Bryden's insistent refrain of "Grease Is The Word" to no avail. Bryden defiantly carries on, bludgeoning the show tune with lip-smacking enunciations, to a bitter death. That the insufferable Coogan is at the receiving end makes the sour, sweet. Ah those Brits.
With the fourth (is it the fourth? who knows) instalment of the pair's chit-chatty travelogue series, you'd think the premise would get old. But precisely during these travel averse, barren restaurant, pandemic times, it not only feels fresh and novel, but also romantically nostalgic.
Of course the supposed premise of ingesting lavish scenery, serenading each other with historic tales, and devouring local cuisine is all fine and good, it is the witty back and forth bellicose banter between the two surly thespians one upping each other, that is the heart of these films. The digs are deep, the jabs are pointed. Forget the pen, the tongue is mightier than the sword.
Their self-skewering of the classless upper class is priceless in a faux reality that questions the faux. In true stiff upper lip, chip chip cheerio British bravado, there is a lurking charm and sentimentality beneath the sheen that only a true friendship could foster.
A nice farewell, sardonic as it may be, and a fitting end to the series.- hipCRANK
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Gordon-113 June 2020The two characters talk way too much. The impersonations aren't funny either. At least this time there is a thin plot that doesn't involve them babbling away.
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ricardoschtiegmokwena20 June 2020I enjoyed it and its beautifully shot.....The theme of friendship the producers played with worked well.Its the kind of film that makes you want to travel after watching it.Its not everyone's cup of tea-some will find it rather extremely boring and not get the humor.Watch if you are looking to relax not ease up from the worlds expectations.
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robinwoodpdx25 August 2020This is the smartest and funniest of The Trip movies, but it may help that I've been to many of the locations in the film, and am very familiar with and appreciative of Greek history, ancient literature, ancient theater, mythology, food, etc.
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mckinleybrooksmorton15 January 2021I agree with manybofnthe criticisms ofnthis film: that it is not funny, does not feature the lush food and landscapes of the prior outings, etc. However, I would suggest that this film takes The Trip in a new, morenmature direction, and is attempting to age with the creators. I found this film very moving, but nothing like the other works in The Trip franchise.
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larry_b22 April 2020There's something missing. I'm fairly certain they used to name the restaurants and eateries they went to and discussed the actual meals they were having, but not in this series. It's virtually the same format as the others. Except their impressions, banter, and seemingly nastier digs at each other, overextended. Additionally their's and camera's barely masked ogling at young females a little cringy. There is however very beautiful scenery and a bit of history still. I generally liked it but not as mush as the others :/
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BigJimNoFool11 April 2020I have enjoyed all previous Trips but this is a journey too far in my opinion. I found i was bored of the usual banter and actually found myself actively disliking the pair whom i actually adore.
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brian16-467-3751904 February 2021Please keep making these films. Call me sentimental, but the last ten minutes of The Trip to Greece moved me. I guess having lost my father, I can relate. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon may or may not be pretentious, self-important prats in real life, but they come across as very likeable and real on screen. These films about two men taking trips together waxing eloquent about what meaning there is to be found in the adventures they embark upon never gets old for me.
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First, you can't call a week in Greece an odyssey. It's an insult to the word and the concept. What you can call a week in Greece is completely and utterly inadequate. They could have called it "Why the Rush?" or "The Greeks Had More Books than The Odyssey."
I can totally understand how so many people watch this and see it as nothing more than self-indulgent nonsense, but for me the series has been enjoyable. It makes me wonder why in the United States we literally have no one in the entertainment industry who even attempts to come across as an intellectual, not even a little bit. I guess no one bothers to ask, or if they do, no one bothers to listen to them talk about anything other than their movies or whatever it is they do. If anyone mentioned a book on American TV, I'm sure most viewers would throw their backs out of whack diving for the remote to change the channel. America writers are mostly ignored in our popular culture except the few who have enjoyed wild success which usually means they aren't much as writers.
Ugh, Steve Coogan's failed marriage and ruined family is brought up again and again in the series. The good news is this aspect of his life seems to mean so little to him that it doesn't get in the way of the banter over over-priced lunches, one cost 307 euros (and one guy doesn't drink!) for two-which could probably feed everyone for a day at the refugee camp they brush up against very uncomfortably at the beginning of their "odyssey."
For being on holiday, they drive like work drones on their commute to boring jobs. Take the bus, a train, walk, ride a bike, a donkey, or swim. I don't find it particularly cinematic to show two guys talking in a car. Just about anywhere else is preferable.
Neither of them seem to know even the first thing about food, so why do they have to go to such exclusive (read expensive) restaurants? I think it would have been more charming had they popped into modest little places for a bite and a pint. I guess people love their lifestyle porn.
Both are crap at swimming, like embarrassingly so to the point that they shouldn't have allowed themselves to be filmed attempting this basic skill. They are OK at impressions, although they dwell on Al Pacino, Michael Cane, and Marlon Brando to the point of high annoyance. One is a decent singer, the other terrible and should never, ever sing publicly.
Maybe if they spent less time working on their impressions they could speak a foreign language? No one expects them to speak Greek, but neither of them can do an acceptable Italian or Spanish accent.
I loved the music throughout (except when performed by the cast). There were the simple piano melodies with light chords, and the orchestral surges at other moments (Philip Glass violin concerto 2nd movement, or a variation of it?). From the modest budget, I would guess that there wasn't much in the way of original music so I'm guessing that the piano music was all by Philip Glass as well.
They used his dad's passing as a dramatic tool, so why not take it a step further and have the two clowns do impressions of Michael Cane and Al Pacino imitating his dead dad? Instead, we are treated to a maudlin acting workshop that will make you beg for my version.
Middle-aged men talking to their kids on the phone is exactly the sort of cinema you would expect it to be: not at all good. -
alisdair-4212913 March 2020Aka Coogan and Brydon. I watched a couple of the previous series off and on, when I felt like something amusing/undemanding involving food and travel. That was fine. This time, with an interest in Greek history and culture, I was looking forward to the new locations. However my optimism was misplaced. The tired old formula of two 'funny' men engaging in un-funny (and increasingly edgy) banter and impersonations simply doesn't work any more. And what a waste of scenery and history - Epidaurus is one of the wonders of the ancient world, a beautiful open-air theatre designed four centuries before Christ (and still used to this day), with wonderful views over the surrounding countryside. What did we see? Two men bickering witlessly on a stone step. If the cameraman had simply turned through 90 degrees the quality of the programme would have been significantly improved. Then the trip to the island of Hydra - 90% of that trip was devoted to a single (!) shot of a restaurant terrace. T&T droned on, boring other diners, and us the viewers, whilst their two female guests looked utterly disinterested. A more modern story of Hydra (a tiny island) that Leonard Cohen lived there for a number of years, and where he created many of his most famous songs, and that it was home to artists, poets, musicians (some of whom still live there), was given only a cursory/jokey mention - the producer (correctly) deciding that that story was more interesting than T&T's increasingly desperate impersonations. And what did they eat? Who cares, they didn't. Time's up chaps. Move on.
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gsygsy9 August 2020Smug, self-indulgent drivel. We're invited to think that, because the actors know they're playing a pair of egos on legs, their self-knowledge somehow makes what we're watching funny, or well-observed, or something other than a waste of time. In their world, watching deluded people playing deluded people is amusing, apparently. Other examples of this genre include such gems as I'M STILL HERE, the 2010 'spoof' by Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix. It's difficult to say that THE TRIP TO GREECE is worse than that. It's not. It's merely as bad. Actor Rob Brydon and director Michael Winterbottom are talented people. It's sad to see them sinking to this level. I trust the fee was worth it.