The Trip to Spain (2010)
(Michael Winterbottom, UK 2017, 108 min., DCP)
Michael Winterbottom, Steve Coogan, and Rob Brydon had seemingly concluded their Trip trilogy with this installment (though they’d return once again with The Trip to Greece in 2020). Here, we see the entertainers working their way through restaurants and destinations in Spain, mirroring a trip Coogan made when he was eighteen. Coogan in particular seems to be adrift personally and professionally. He has difficulty identifying a project that will follow up his (real-life) awards success for writing and producing Philomena. He is maintaining a long-distance relationship with Mischa (who we saw in the first film) and is reconnecting with his son, who will join the pair at the end of the trip. Brydon, ever the foil, is present to let Coogan know he only adapts others’ ideas while maintaining a stable home life of his own. Impressions abound, as the pair share dueling Roger Moores and Mick Jaggers with a bit of Michael Caine and Hugh Grant thrown in for good measure.