I'll Have A Serving of Steve Coogan with a Side of His Michael Caine Impression

banner for the film Steve Coogan on the left and Rob Brydon on the right.

I haven't been able to watch too much lately, too much shit going on, not enough time, also I care about my tan in the Summer, anyway! I finally took advantage of my Hulu+ account for something that doesn't have anything to do with Bradley Cooper and watched The Trip (2012). I didn't know much about it except the fact that it was made by a director I loath; Michael Winterbottom (a pretentious hack with a flair for nothing happening in his films aside from stares and graphic fucking) and that it had a scene where the two principals Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon do a hilarious competition of who's got the better Michael Caine impression, something which I've incorporated into my dinner parties believe me. 

The crisis of being middle aged. Steve sans family, stability, and hapiness and Brydon possessing all of those things leads to rivalry between the two.

So here's the story Steve Coogan is feeling very middle aged. He's of course playing himself, and is somewhat depressed after his smokin' hot girlfriend decides they need a break and moves back to the states. Before doing so she had planned a trip for the two of them of the best places to eat in Northern England because she's a huge foodie. 

The reluctant bad-ass.

Let's back track a little bit and give you a bit of Coogan history. He's been a staple of the British tabloids who's exploits are rivaled only by the Royals at this point. Courtney Love herself blames him for turning her on to 'the dark side', and that's saying a fucking lot, and he's always been somewhat sexy-weird and seriously fucked up but not in the oh-god-no kind of way, more of in a that's pretty cool kind of way. And through it all he's maintained somewhat of a serious cool-factor, and a sense of unique British-ness in just letting everything shed right off him no matter how lascivious.

So that's why we still love him in a devil-may-care kind of way, and I find him shamelessly attractive. I want his snide, sarcastic babies, I really do. 

So he decides to take an old friend, Rob Brydon (playing himself as well) along with him, and true to Michael Winterbottom fashion, nothing extraordinary truly happens. Steve laments around being depressed and hitting on random chicks, Rob always tries to one-up Steve in his obsession of being the perfect impressionist which leads to some polite British humor, it's all very genuine, and somewhat depressing for a comedy, but for a film in which nothing happens or changes, I was actually entertained and if not for the two male leads, I don't think I would have been. It's a great existential experience. I'd recommend it, I mean it's free, give it a try.

Below trailers and clips: