Greece is the word

ON (small) SCREENS IN ORLANDO

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan in The Trip to Greece

BY STEVE SCHNEIDER

GREECE IS THE WORD Coogan and Brydon’s final Trip movie is a worthwhile sojourn PHOTO COURTESY IFC FILMS

BY CAMERON MEIER

In The Odyssey, Odysseus takes 10 years to return home from the Trojan Wars. Though no one would argue that director Michael Winterbottom’s Trip series is on the same aesthetic level as Homer’s epic Greek poem, it has also taken his protagonists – slightly fictionalized versions of the actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon – a decade to complete their journey. And they end their adventure, fittingly, by attempting to retrace Odysseus’ voyage from Troy to Ithaca, in The Trip to Greece.

The franchise began on the small screen in 2010 with a British holiday travel series simply titled The Trip. It featured Coogan and Brydon, in six BBC episodes, as actors-turned-food-critics, touring restaurants in northern England. Those shows were then edited together into a feature film.

That formula continued in 2014 with The Trip to Italy, in 2017 with The Trip to Spain and now with The Trip to Greece, which first aired, in six episodes, on Britain’s Sky One in March. Though the whip-smart banter, self-deprecating humor and celebrity impersonations have occasionally grown tedious, especially in the Spanish sojourn, the series has maintained a good deal of its charm, if not its originality. But, as Coogan says in the latest edition, “Originality is overrated. Everything is derivative.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t new vistas and even fresh storylines to enjoy in the new film, which its creators confirm will be the last. And, as usual, famous sights and scrumptious cuisine abound, though this latest film focuses more on Coogan and Brydon’s characters, and their family, colleagues and romantic interests.

Yes, you will hear plenty of dialects, accents and impressions, but you won’t see as much of Athens as you might expect. Still, you will get glimpses of that city’s Ancient Agora, not to mention the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the ancient theater of Epidaurus and the island of Hydra. If you haven’t been to Greece, it’s a bit difficult to follow the film geographically, but, at the end of the six-day trip, we discover that the film’s raison d’être lies not in the Greek Isles but in the hearts of its characters.

“In a macro sense, we’ve been on the odyssey for 10 years,” Brydon reminds Coogan. Yet Coogan’s collaboration with Winterbottom goes back a further decade and includes last year’s Greed (also filmed in Greece) as well as A Cock and Bull Story from 2005. (That metatheatrical, largely improvisational movie also co-starred Brydon and partially inspired The Trip.)

The oddest thing about the Trip movies is that they are food films, travelogues, personal essays, comedies and dramas – sometimes one at a time and sometimes simultaneously. Indeed, Winterbottom’s odd, genre-busting formula really shouldn’t work, at least not in a feature-film format. But it usually does, thanks mostly to the two actors’ chemistry. And by the end of the latest chapter, the film flirts with another, even more appropriate genre: Greek tragedy. I guess not much has changed in 2,880 years. feedback@orlandoweekly.com

THE TRIP TO GREECE

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PREMIERES WEDNESDAY:

Ben Platt Live From Radio City Music Hall – Broadway’s Evan Hansen, Ben Platt, is three-quarters of the way to the coveted EGOT, having already racked up an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony. All that’s left is an Oscar – and since there’s no telling when those are going to be a thing again, what do you say we just spot him one? Or maybe he’ll just win another Emmy for his first concert special, shot last year in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,000 and featuring songs from his album, Sing to Me Instead. Hey, put him in a dog suit and he might have a shot at Westminster. ( Netflix)

PREMIERES FRIDAY:

The Big Fib – The podcast “Pants on Fire” becomes a full-fledged game show, with adults feigning expertise in a variety of bigpeople pursuits and leaving it up to kids to figure out if they’re for real. At this point, I don’t know what children should give us the benefit of the doubt about. I mean, we couldn’t even save the animals at Chuck E. Cheese, for chrissakes. ( Disney+)

History 101 – Vintage footage enlivens a new documentary series that chronicles major accomplishments and upheavals in the development of the human race. Over on Comedy Central, they have to get drunk to do this, so is anybody going to want to brave it sober? I mean, I couldn’t even relive my own dating history if I didn’t have a snoot full. (Netflix)

The Lovebirds – You almost got to see this “action rom-com” in theaters last month. Then again, you almost got to do a lot of things. Oh yeah! Apparently, Paramount thought the picture wasn’t anything you were going to wait a full year for, so they fobbed it off on Netflix and here it is. Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani play a couple who’re on the verge of breaking up when they get embroiled in a murder mystery. Sure, that’ll bring them together; it’s why everybody on Forensic Files is wearing promise rings. (Netflix)

Premature – Audiences at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival were the first to witness Zora Howard’s performance as a Harlem teenager whose future is threatened by her romantic dalliance with a music producer. The movie is being promoted as a “romantic drama,” but I’m going to classify it as science fiction, for one reason: There are still black people in Harlem! ( Hulu)

Selling Sunset: Season 2 – Eight new episodes expose the highs and heartbreaks of L.A. real estate. Seriously, you try finding a buyer for Phil Spector’s place without springing for a good exorcist. ( Netflix)

Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series: Season 1 – As a stopgap between seasons of its live-action forebear, the adult cartoon returns to show us what happens when Canadians stop being polite and start getting real. Real skeevy. ( Netflix)

PREMIERES TUESDAY:

Hannah Gadsby: Douglas – The Australian star of 2018’s acclaimed stand-up special Nanette returns with observations on, among other things, the kooky American language. Oh right, like we could have come up with “bonzer.” (Netflix)