Mark Reviews Movies: THE TRIP TO GREECE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 21, 2020

For some reason, The Trip to Greece, the fourth and allegedly final entry in this particular series of movies (each of them, including this one, edited from a separate season of a television series), resonated with me more than the previous installments. This one is basically the same as the previous ones, although the backdrop is different. They've always been about the dueling camaraderie/rivalry between two comedic actors, as they travel across a region (in the first movie) or a country (in the others) to see the sights, eat food, and, of course, trade banter and impressions. An air of melancholy has existed beneath the vacations before, but it especially permeates in this one.

Maybe that's because director Michael Winterbottom and stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are saying farewell to these trips. It certainly doesn't seem that way for most of the film. Coogan and Brydon, playing Steve and Rob—versions of themselves that are authentic enough to be honest and fictionalized enough that they're comfortable with being nakedly honest—once again, have come to Greece to see the amazing sights and eat delicious-looking food and write an article about their experiences.

They jump right into the old routine and, since they're comedians with well-honed repertoires, routines. Steve does the voice of a James Bond villain, and Rob does his little-man-in-a-box bit. Their impressions of Michael Caine never come up, and maybe that's an intentional decision on the part of the director and the actors. We've come to expect certain things from these movies, and the actors' respective interpretations of Caine might be the most well-known thing to come out of this series. The absence is noteworthy, if only because it silently announces that there's something different about this particular entry.

The beginning certainly tries to make us comfortable. Some may recall that the last movie ended on a rather shocking note, as Steve, making his way solo across North Africa, was about to encounter a group of men whose intentions are never clear. The suggestion, though, was that he was about to be in some considerable trouble. That incident comes up once in this installment and is then brushed off without any additional mention. Winterbottom wants us to be comfortable—well, as comfortable as we can be with a passive-aggressive egomaniac and a man who intrinsically seems to know how to push his buttons.

We are quite comfortable pretty quickly. Steve and Rob, visiting a site of antiquity in Turkey (the place where the Greek army camped for 10 years during the Trojan War) before heading to Greece, chat and banter and riff about whatever crosses their minds in the moment. Then, it's off to Greece, to see more sights—from Lesbos (where the two get a kick out of the "Lesbian Hotel"), to Athens, to Delphi, to caves that that were said to be the entrance to the underworld in legend, to the bull-belly-shaped lagoon at Voidokilia beach.

As a quick and rather depressing reminder of Steve's self-centered personality, the two have a chance encounter with Kareem Alkabbani, who appeared as a refugee in a movie in which Steve recently starred (The movie is Greed, by the way, which was also directed by Winterbottom). They give him a ride to a camp—much more permanent and intimidating than either of the actors expect—where he helps refugees currently in immigration limbo. Immediately after dropping Kareem off, Rob asks if Steve remembers the man's name. He doesn't.

That's the way things have been for these two, and it hasn't changed, even though 10 years have passed since their first trip across the north of England. The two make a note of that passage of time, and there's something to that. We always like to think that people are capable of change, but for all the ups and downs of their friendship and their personal lives and their careers, Steve and Rob are essentially the same characters now as they were a decade ago. Steve is still petty, jealous, irritable, and egotistical. Rob is still gregarious, amiable, considerate, and good-humored. Everything they've gone through matters, obviously, but when it comes to the people they were and are now, none of it, in the big scheme of things, really does.

There are two big shifts in tone and purpose in this film. The first is how Winterbottom puts a focus on the idea of control. There are lots of little details in this regard, such as how Steve always has to drive (Rob points out how strange it is to ride in the passenger seat and, near the end of the film, describes the act of driving as a matter of control). He's the one coming up with plans and, on a whim, deciding to change them whenever a new challenge arrives. Repeatedly, Steve feels the need to prove himself—diving from some rocks or getting into a swimming race with Rob. Look how miserable he has been and remains in trying to maintain control over everything, and note, in the film's epilogue, how Rob is rewarded for just letting things be as they will be.

The second shift is the news that Steve's father is ill and in the hospital. That's also about control—namely, how little he has over this situation. The knowledge hangs over everything in The Trip to Greece, through nightmares and in how Steve keeps the news unspoken to Rob until it becomes necessary to tell him. Melancholy here isn't just an undertone, as it had been in the previous movies. It's this film's defining characteristic, ultimately—and maybe finally—humbling even Steve in a way that nothing else could.

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