“It’s nice to be liked, but you shouldn’t go out there trying to be liked”: The trip to Greece

Over at The Ringer I wrote about “The Trip To Greece”, the fourth edition in a hilarious and melancholy series of adventures which depicts the travels of the mismatched British comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, and the strange frequency they vibrate under. Check it out if this sounds like your cup of ouzo!

On one level, The Trip series is intended to function as a high-gloss, chamber of commerce–approved overview of some of Europe’s most stunning and fascinating sites, and it routinely succeeds spectacularly at this task. In The Trip to Greece, mountain views and Mediterranean vistas are shot with opulent majesty, gourmet meals are carefully prepared and elegantly served, and tours are taken with an appropriate awestruck awareness of their historical consequence. If all you want out of The Trip series is an opportunity to luxuriate by proxy, you will find the movies gratifying. But increasingly, this isn’t what the movies are really about at all.