Popular reviews

• 

  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 1

  I'VE BURIED TOO MANY BATMEN, MISTER BRUCE.

• 

  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 6

  This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually think that I prefer this to The Trip. The serious aspects are more effective/less awkward, the cinematography and music are absolutely gorgeous, and above all else, this one was straight-up funnier. The Batman & Bane scene toward the beginning was the hardest I've laughed in a theater all year; I'm pretty sure I snorted and embarrassed my friends. Also accidentally spat my soda out at another point during the film. Undignified signs of damn good comedy.

• 

  Review by Filmspotting ★★★½

  All I know is I've watched the 'Michael Parkinson interview' five times and I laughed harder each time.

  "We'll come back to you, Steve, and now Michael Bublé..."

• 

  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★

  “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine” – Lord Byron

  The death of Robin Williams–who earlier this week took his own life after a decades-long battle with severe depression–has refocused our collective attention on the tragicomic irony of the world’s Pagliaccis, those clowns who jump on the darkness like it’s a live grenade so that the rest of us can live in the light. Of course, this is not to say that all comedians are desperately staving off suicide, but simply–to borrow the title of a hilarious episode of The Simpsons–that there’s always at least a little something to see behind the laughter.

  In that light, The Trip to Italy might just be the film we need right…

• 

  Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 2

  he’s gonna be in an actual American movie. two men constantly chasing the unobtainable, better success, better jobs, better relationships with their loved ones, just stuck in a limbo of middle age and melancholy. it’s as funny as I remembered, with the Dark Knight Rises gag being one of the finest comedic moments of the 2010s, but a little bit of age has uncovered just how devastating it is. Brydon’s best work, so glad I saw it again, can’t wait for the other two. doing the movies since it’s quicker but will go back and watch the full episodes again whenever I need the perfect blend of subtle devastation and uproarious comedy.

• 

  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★

  54/100

  A.V. Club review. More of the same, though no bit here is nearly as inspired as "Gentlemen, to bed!" or the dueling Michael Caines (though the latter makes a reappearance, among several other audience-courting callbacks). Brydon and Coogan—and I place Brydon first expressly to annoy Coogan—make such a pleasurable team that they could probably make half a dozen of these without exhausting our goodwill; if they keep going, I do hope they eventually realize that the would-be poignant material about their fake personal lives is superfluous.

• 

  Review by Joe ★★★★½

  Coogan's reaction to being told that Humphrey Bogart was in a car accident during filming of Beat the Devil - a shocked "this is news to me!" - is a true treasure. I think this is actually funnier than the first one.

• 

  Review by Sam Van Hallgren ★★★★

  Expert sequel-ing. Self aware, and yet avoids trying to top the pleasures of the original. And if not funnier than the first at least as funny, while also digging a little deeper into Brydon and Coogan's anxieties. A day later, I'm still laughing about kumquat. And Brydon's Man in the Box making an appearance in Pompeii was not only hilarious, its borderline inappropriateness - along with Coogan's response to it - actually made the thousands year-old tragedy of the place hit home in a way that surprised me. And the look on Brydon's face after he books the big movie gig told me more about the melancholy of the movie business than anything this side of (the oft mentioned) Fellini.

  Currently streaming via Netflix.

• 

  Review by yarb ★★★½ 10

  One of the most erotic experiences of my life was seeing a quat kum before my eyes.

  The shoe is on the other foot here, as a between-jobs Coogan connects with his son and generally has a relaxing time of it, while Brydon succumbs to the temptation of a holiday fling as his wife wrangles their new sprog, back in gloomy London. The role-reversal doesn’t entirely work, though, because Brydon doesn’t have Coogan’s dramatic range or depth. Brydon the comic is as amusing/irritating as ever — the highlights his over-cosy, name-dropping Parky impression and his man-in-a-Pompeii-box, the (deliberate) nadir his relentless Pacino-ing — but he doesn’t project his angst as troublingly as Coogan in the original.

  The other very minor…

• 

  Review by Josh Larsen ★★★½ 5

  Things feel somewhat programmatic in this sequel, yet the heart of it is thankfully the same thing that made the first film so entertaining: Coogan and Brydon's impromptu frenemy conversations, peppered with plenty of celebrity impersonations. Winterbottom also finds new dishes and new vistas on which to train his camera—all lovely, if dripping with a heightened affluence that feels a bit self-satisfied this time around.

• 

  Review by 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕞 (𝕃𝕖𝕠) 𝕧𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕖𝕣 ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕟 ★★★★

  Short Review

  A huge improvement over the first part! The Trip to Italy creates a much more endearing and entertaining atmosphere than its predecessor. The continuous bickering has a much friendlier tone to it which adds immensely to the problems the already iconic duo carry around with them in this part. Family matters, relational values and the all around philosophy of friendship is elevated to new heights and is brought to our attention in the many conversations they have. Through all the Mediterranean cuisine, impersonations, Alanis Morissette songs and lovely, simplistic cinematography of Italy, we get a wonderful insight in the evolution of two men and the value their friendship holds within the whole of aging. Honestly, I wish to be like this when I reach that age...

• 

  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★

  An actual, considerable improvement upon an already delightful premise. For one thing, Winterbottom's vistas of Italy are far more loving and epic than his more pastoral depiction of the English countryside. For another, the focus shifts away from Coogan, who starts to attain a sense of contentment in life (ironically from losing a job, a set of circumstances that nonetheless allows him to move back home to be with his son), while Brydon now has to deal with the temptations and miseries of fame and attention. It shakes up the dynamic without doing anything to radical, and watching Brydon deal with the nervousness of attraction to a guide, or of getting a potential big-break part, loads his chirpy impressions now…