Directing: B
Acting: B
Writing: B
Cinematography: B+
Editing: B+

One has to wonder: are Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon just going to keep making these movies every few years, for the rest of their lives? Honestly I wouldn't mind so much; as long as the quality stays relatively consistent, I'm likely to keep coming back. Whether I recommend it to others is another question.

The Trip in 2011 was light, breezy fun; The Trip to Italy in 2014 was more light, breezy fun. The Trip to Spain is also light, breezy fun, but there is a reason I don't change the words used to describe it: it's fundamentally still more of the same. Fun, yes -- but hardly original at this point.

The one thing that sets this installment apart, aside from the specific country of its setting (the original took place in Coogan and Brydon's native Britain), is a potentially baffling twist ending. It's widely open to interpretation, and not necessarily in keeping with the spirit of the previous two films, or even this film up to that point. It feels very much like a cliffhanger, but could it be a pointed ending to what will only ever be a trilogy?

It's difficult to imagine a fourth film picking up from here and then somehow reverting to another light jaunt through the countryside, our two heroes sampling fine restaurants at a different location every evening. But, I suppose, with the right talent, it could be pulled off. If the same pattern were to continue, we'd have another installment in 2020. Presumably it would also be directed by Michael Winterbotom, who directed all three films as well as creating the British television series of the same name that preceded them. It also starred Coogan and Brydon.

In any case, like its predecessors, The Trip to Spain features these two traveling together, driving from town to town, occasionally visiting tourist spots, but most of the time onscreen is spent with them sitting at dinner tables in restaurants. The two men verbally spar with each other, mostly through comic impressions, the majority of which are of Michael Caine or Sean Connery -- just as they were in the other films. As I said: more of the same.

That said, it's still funny. There is very little in the way of plot in these movies, and occasionally punch lines take rather long and circuitous routes to their arrival. It's relatively specific humor: if you don't get it, you'll probably be bored; if you do get it, you'll be entertained. I fell into the latter category.

There's also an added undercurrent of melancholy, with more discussions about aging and how that affects career and relationships. In a way <i>The Trip</i> series is thematically a comic version of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise series, although those movies are far more profound, and made nine years apart instead of three. These ones, to their credit, are funnier.

And a little bit self-deprecating, too. Coogan and Brydon play fictionalized versions of themselves -- for instance, in real life, Coogan has a 21-year-old daughter; in the movie, he has a 20-year-old son. He does mention in the movie that he's been nominated for two Oscars, which is true (although he doesn't mention they were for the same movie). His phone conversations with disloyal agents are likely a little to the left of reality, but he does depict himself as an actor type who could benefit from a little more self-awareness. This feeds in a bit, arguably, to that twist ending, although many audiences are going to find it more offensive than merely provocative as intended. Maybe for Winterbottom that's part of the point.

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan tell it like it is through more celebrity impressions in The Trip to Spain. — *Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan tell it like it is through more celebrity impressions in* The Trip to Spain.

Overall: B