Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon - The Trip

American critics are eating up the movie version of a popular BBC miniseries The Trip, in which two comedians riff about food, snot and Michael Caine's changing voice register while dining in gourmet restaurants and touring the British countryside.

The movie, which hit US theaters over the weekend, received largely positive reviews for the performances of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, popular British comedians who are still relatively unknown among American audiences.

Playing 'versions of themselves,' Coogan's character is sent on a culinary tour of some of England's finest restaurants ostensibly by The Observer newspaper and reluctantly invites friend Brydon along for the ride after his American girlfriend and several other friends decline the invitation.

The result is 111 minutes of what critics largely describe as witty, absurd hilarity based on the men's improv talents: little if anything is scripted and the men play off one another firing volleys of taunts and rants in the style of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In between bucolic imagery of the British countryside and a steady stream of celebrity impersonations that include Woody Allen, Liam Neeson and Sean Connery are also close-up shots of perfectly cooked and foam-topped scallops, duck-fat spiced popcorn lollies, and fancy, vegetable green cocktails served in martini glasses that Brydon likens unceremoniously to snot.

On their dining itinerary are Michelin-starred restaurants in the Lake District like L'Enclume, the Inn at Whitewell, Holbeck Ghyll, Yorke Arms, and Angel Inn, where the duo engage in rambling, bickering conversations and, what Slate.com calls "the finest Michael Caine-impression showdown in cinematic history."

Originally produced as a six-part miniseries for BBC, bookings at these establishments rose after the shows aired in the UK last year. Holbeck Ghyll, for instance, saw £18,000 (€20,400) worth of extra business following their appearance, reported The Guardian.

The premise has been compared to the 2004 movie Sideways, in which two male friends take a road trip through California wine country as a final hurrah before one of them gets married.

Though the Slate.com review also called the movie alternately, amusing, boring and annoying like the protagonists themselves, it described the bickering duo as two "naturally hilarious men" able to spin comic gold out of nothing at all.

And a clearly enamored critic at the Huffington Post wrote, "The pleasures of The Trip are subtle and absurd. No big comic set-pieces or slapstick gags, no set-up/punchline construction."

Published 16.06.2011