A TRIP TO SPAIN

A TRIP TO SPAIN

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return on yet another gastronomical trip; having already eaten and quipped their way through Italy (2014) and England (2010), now the Observer has assigned Steve to eat Spain. Once again, he askes friend Rob to come along.

Director Michael Winterbottom ("The Killer Inside Me") returns adding a few tweaks that improve this episode over the mundane "The Trip to Italy". Sure there is plenty of eating and cool sights, but this time a small catch in Steve's constant bragging about his two Oscar nominations for "Philomena".

They arrive in Spain and almost immediately start their fairly good imitations of various British actors. Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Mick Jagger and even Paul McCartney get impersonated. But during the course of the trip, both men are in constant contact with their agents.

Well, sort of; Steve finds out that his agent left for greener pastures turning everything over to his assistant with whom Steve knows little to nothing about. Meanwhile a producer is letting him know they are hiring another writer rewrite Coogan's latest screenplay.

Over in Rob side, he gets an interesting offer - he gets called by Steve's now former agent who wants him as a client replacing Steve. Ouch! It seems Rob is trending up with his friend is trending down. Things come to a head - as it were when they get soctumed for a promotional shoot for Don Quixote.

Steve's girlfriend is preggers with another man's baby and his son got his own girlfriend preggers much to the dismay of Steve. Rob's life is smooth sailing as he sends plenty of dingers the way of his friend. The Banter is fabulous even if it leads toa dissapointing ending.

There seems to be some self awareness that the series is losing it's edge, thus the need to add a bit more drama to the story.

"The Trip To Spain" is a mostly fun romp that isn't quite as good as the original "The Trip" but definitely a step up over "The Trip To Italy". Clearly it's a setup for at least one more travelogue/eat around. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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