The Trip 2011

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: An easy-going trek down a road well-traveled by these two. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The Trip is a comedy about two guys going to fancy restaurants in the English countryside. Sounds hilarious, huh? Well, it actually is. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: As such, it's a diverting entertainment. And it does, I admit, make me curious to see the full series... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Does it matter where a performer ends and the persona begins, or if the two can be separated? In "The Trip" you search for authenticity among the jokes and lulls, but what you get is what you see and hear... Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: This amuse-bouche of a setup (culled from six episodes of BBC television) blooms into a meal of majestic agony. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The Trip is probably too long, but I have to say "probably" because I would have been happy with an additional half-hour of Steve and Rob doing more impressions. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Coogan and Brydon, as they proved earlier in Winterbottom's brilliant "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," are a pair of pretty funny guys to spend time with; their riff on "We leave at daybreak!" is almost worth the ticket price. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The Trip is a fine, funny movie. But there's no reason why it couldn't have been even finer and funnier. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Suggests a reality TV fusion of "Sideways'' and a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road'' movie, or maybe "My Dinner With Andre'' repurposed into a movable feast. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The movie offers enough good one-liners, both comic and ruminative, to hold one's interest, but don't expect much else. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The odyssey goes on a bit too long, and I suppose a taste for extra dry British comedy is a requirement, but this Trip is well worth one. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's rife with observations about men of a certain age, actors of a certain career -- and for a bonus, restaurants of a certain moment. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: The giddy sequences of sublime, inspired silliness make it all worthwhile. Read more

Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter: The project suffers badly from being largely improvised as the pair fall back on familiar impressions and old jokes. Lazy and indulgent, it smacks of being what the British call a "jolly," that is a freebie with no obligation to turn in work afterward. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Their travels and squabbles are great fun to watch, the countryside is bucolic, the food mouthwatering. You just wouldn't want to go on a real road trip with them. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: The Trip is not about food; it's about friendship, one that will give you plenty to laugh - and think - about. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: The joy of this small, unimportant contest is weirdly addictive; you come out of the film as if from a concert, playing the music of false voices in your head. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The whole thing doesn't add up to a full meal, perhaps. But it is, as one of these chefs might say, a quite delightful amuse-bouche. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: By the time they were singing ABBA songs at the top of their lungs, I was gone. These guys are a hoot, and The Trip is a trip and a half. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: As smart as it is side-splittingly silly. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Every so often, a film comes along that redefines the boundaries of cinema. And every so often there is a movie about two middle-age men driving around and having lunch. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A rambling but illuminating odyssey that has as much to do with friendship - and the competition and conflicts that come with it - as it does with celebrating the comedic chops of its two stars. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is a great deal more entertaining than it sounds, in large part because the two actors are gifted mimics -- Brydon the better one, although Coogan doesn't think so. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "The Trip" may be the wryest and most affecting of all the recent movies about middle-aged male angst. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's two guys traveling, eating and talking. Doesn't sound like much. But it's terrific. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Coogan and Brydon, building their performances largely through improvisation, have such rapport that it's easy to digest their brand of affectionate chatter laced with mildly mean-spirited ribbing. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: During the film's funny stretches, as when Brydon and Coogan get into a loud public row about who does the better Michael Caine, I was laughing too hard to care about unexplored character arcs. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is a wickedly funny joy ride that offers keen, unflatteringly honest insights on fame, midlife crises and the rivalrous nature of male friendship. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The pinch of pathos in this tart comedy makes the "The Trip" a transportive experience. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: A comic diversion that aspires to the old Seinfeld gag of being 'about nothing.' Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Much more than an appetizer, if not quite a main course, it definitely goes down a treat. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Think The Odd Couple with sartorial style and more bickering. Add hints of truisms about middle age, sex, family, mortality and the limits of friendship and The Trip reveals itself to be more than it initially appears. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Michael Winterbottom's The Trip is about 20 minutes too long, but the other 90 are among the funniest in recent memory. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: The verbal jousts are droll and the countryside is splendid, although the food -- an endless succession of fussy little presentations -- may be an acquired taste. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Have you ever been trapped in the back seat of a car while the old married couple up front bickers and banters for hours? It's either sheer torture or, if the couple happens to be Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, wildly entertaining. Read more