The Trip to Italy (2014)
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Years after their successful restaurant review tour of Northern England, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are commissioned for a new tour in Italy.
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4 films that influenced The Trip to Italy
What critics say influenced The Trip to Italy
La bella Italia, La Dolce Vita – it’s all on display in this glorious Grand Tour, full of good friends and good food and, most of all, full of laughter.
Brydon of course has his Godfather ’s, Coogan waxes fondly about Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (with the always hounded celeb reminding us that it’s the film where the term “paparazzi” was created), and then there is Coogan’s personal assistant Emme (Claire Keelan) who continuously references Roman Holiday , the ultimate Italian fantasy film for women as The Godfather is to men.
Among the many made-in-Italy films referenced in this movie (including William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday” and Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”), the most pertinent is John Huston’s “Beat the Devil” – another lunatic comedy improvised on the go.
The scenes of driving in Rome invite chat about La Dolce Vita and Roman Holiday.
But about two-thirds of the way through, someone notes that some people think La Dolce Vita is a celebration of Italian jet-set living, when actually, it's a scathing criticism of its ultimate emptiness.
When reminded of The Godfather: Part II, he scoffs, laughing it off as an oft-cited exception to the rule.
When Brydon mentions The Godfather: Part II , Coogan drily notes that's the exception everyone cites.
The film addresses early on the frequently true notion that sequels are inferior to the originals, settling somewhat pedestrianly on The Godfather: Part II (1974) as the exception.
Elsewhere a candid admission that most sequels fail, with the exception of "The Godfather: Part II," leads Brydon to do Al Pacino, and Coogan to turn critic.
As a tribute to “The Italian Job,” they travel in a Mini Cooper.
Similar to the non-food-porn approach, these scenery of the film is not lingered upon as much as films like “Letters to Juliet” or “Under the Tuscan Sun” or even pretty much any of the recent Woody Allen films.