The Trip to Greece

The fourth film in the series where two actors travel and eat. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play under their own names. This time the route is fixed: they start at Troy and follow the way Odysseus went home, ending at Ithaca. Along the way they eat in restaurants and talk at the table. Most of the talk is improvised. The two compete in impressions, needle each other, and the question of who is doing better comes back at every table. What separates this one from the earlier films is its register. The subject of the Odyssey is homecoming and loss; as the narrative goes on, real weight enters between the jokes. Something happens in Coogan's line involving his family and the film leaves comedy behind in the last section. Each of the four was made first as a television series and then cut down into a film version. The meals were shot in real restaurants and the kitchen footage is a fixed part of the films. Michael Winterbottom directed. An enjoyable close for anyone who likes dialogue comedy, travel films and impressions. For a viewer expecting plot, the film is almost entirely conversation.