Film

The Trip to Greece

Name: The Trip to Greece
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Rebecca Johnson, Marta Barrio

Comedy

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon drive through Greece, stopping to eat, bicker, do celebrity impressions, and negotiate the weight of middle age. It's travel comedy that doubles as a character study—funny in the moment, quietly melancholic underneath. For anyone who loves the earlier films or enjoys watching smart people be accidentally vulnerable.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love the sly, improvised-sounding bickering of two comic actors trading impressions and wounded vanity over long lunches, and you're happy to let the scenery do the heavy lifting.

Skip it if you find the series' repeated rounds of celebrity impressions and mid-meal one-upmanship wearing, since the format leans hard on the same routine across a full feature-length running time.

What it asks of you: Long stretches of driving, eating and idle talk set a loose, meandering pace, with laughs arriving in gradual bursts rather than on any schedule.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Trip to Italy2014

The predecessor that perfected the formula: gorgeous locations, hilarious impressions, genuine affection between two men who've known each other forever. If you haven't seen it, start here.

But The entire appeal hinges on Coogan and Brydon's chemistry. If their banter doesn't land for you, nothing else will.

The Trip2011

Where it all began. Same structure, same chemistry, but fresher somehow—watching them invent this thing, before it became a method, feels special. North of England locations are beautiful too.

But The earliest in the series, so the impressions are less refined and the melancholy less earned. You might prefer them later.

A Cock and Bull Story2005

Coogan playing a version of himself, wrestling with ego and mediocrity. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, who helms all The Trip films. Formally clever and genuinely sad underneath the comedy.

But It's more purely a drama about creative disappointment. No travelogue, no Brydon. The mood is considerably darker.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Trip to Greece

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Sitter1991

Early proof that Coogan could make you laugh while also breaking your heart—that particular alchemy that defines The Trip series.

Coogan in an early supporting role you probably haven't seen; the film is a wild, genuinely strange adult comedy from a pre-comedy-boom era. Crude but unexpectedly kind-hearted and ambitious in what it tries.

But It's deeply of its time: the comedy is dated, the sensibility is very nineties British, and Coogan is barely in it. Watching it feels like archaeology, not entertainment.

Philomena2013

Coogan plays against type: a self-absorbed journalist paired with Judi Dench in a real story about institutional cruelty and redemption. Funny, moving, structurally brilliant. One of his best performances.

But It's heavy. The comedy is real but brief; this is mostly a serious film about suffering and cover-ups. Not in the mood for that tone.

I'm Alan Partridge1997

Coogan as the character that made him famous: a middle-aged regional DJ, delusional and lonely. Every episode is beautifully written. You get the DNA of what The Trip would become.

But It's a sitcom from the nineties. The pace is slower, the irony denser, the worldview bleaker than modern comedy. Takes patience to adjust to.

The Trip to Spain2017

The third in the series, with everything honed to perfection: Michelin-star restaurants, Spanish locations, a slightly darker edge. By this point you understand what you're signing up for.

But If you haven't seen the first two, this will feel like inside jokes. And the formula is definitely, definitively the formula by now.

24 Hour Party People2002

Coogan in another role that lets him be funny and tragic: a Manchester music promoter in the nineties. Directed by Winterbottom again. Wild, formally playful, genuinely chaotic.

But It's very much a period piece about British rave culture. If that era doesn't interest you, the story won't either.

The Look of Love2013

Coogan as Paul Raymond, the publisher who built an empire on naked women and then lost everything. It's sympathetic to someone it probably shouldn't be. Visually sumptuous and morally queasy in interesting ways.

But The moral queerness might be the point, or it might just be icky. Coogan's charm working in service of a fundamentally sleazy character sits uncomfortably for some people.

This Is England2007

Directed by Shane Meadows, a different energy entirely: a coming-of-age story about a boy and skinhead culture. Beautiful, raw, angry. Shows British cinema can be visceral and true without irony.

But It's violent and angry and not funny. Nothing like The Trip. The tonal whiplash from one to the other is severe.

Sideways2004

The same DNA: middle-aged men, travel, impressive food, the slow realization that time is running out and you haven't become who you thought you'd be.

Two aging men on a road trip grappling with failure, mortality, and whether their friendship can survive them. Comedy and genuine sadness woven through travel, wine, and small discoveries. A spiritual cousin to The Trip.

But American, and much more focused on romantic regret. The structure and tone are completely different—this is melancholy first, funny second. Coogan's there for the impressions; Giamatti's there to suffer.

Husbands and Wives1992

The formal playfulness, the structure built around two men (or here, couples) with real history examining what they've become. Comedy as a defense mechanism against despair.

Woody Allen's mockumentary about two couples unraveling, shot in chaotic black-and-white with constant camera shakes. It's a comedy about the disintegration of intimacy in long-term relationships, sharp and painful simultaneously.

But It's Allen, with all that entails. Extremely dated in some ways, morally complicated in others. Also quite bleak—the laughs don't soften what's being lost.