The Trip to Spain
IFC Films | Release Date: August 11, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistCharles BramescoApr 28, 2017
Brydon and Coogan are the same gifted improvisers they’ve always been, shooting the breeze until it sweeps them into some absurd playacted scenario. Read full review
88
Washington PostChristopher KompanekAug 24, 2017
What’s different this time around is how frequently these largely improvised conversations (between actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing fictionalized versions of themselves) veer into the abyss of impending mortality. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyAug 10, 2017
The dimension of humanity only buttresses the humor. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichApr 28, 2017
Director Michael Winterbottom hasn’t just delivered the funniest movie of the year, but also a comedy that casts its characters in a harsh new light. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 10, 2017
As in the previous films, the pilgrims stay in the most picturesque places, and are served the most sumptuous meals, the preparation of which Mr. Winterbottom uses as a visual digestif when his two stars begin to cloy. Most often, though, they are supremely urbane and consistently hilarious. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 9, 2017
It is at once a desperate echo of long-gone glories and a glory itself. Read full review
80
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyApr 28, 2017
The film deepens the melancholic, existential notes from end of The Trip to Italy, and continues to evolve with its characters emotionally. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 30, 2017
In a startling, last-reel freeze frame, the male ego pops like a balloon, and I wanted to pre-book for the next Trip right away. Read full review
78
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpAug 7, 2017
Ultimately, fans of the previous two films will get all they crave from The Trip to Spain, which feels like something of a rarity in franchising: These movies have yet to fizzle out and lose their appeal or run out of creative space to explore. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldAug 31, 2017
The “Trip” movies, like the anchovies Coogan and Brydon happily devour, aren’t to everyone’s taste.... But oh, those impressions. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonAug 24, 2017
The movies may be frivolous (and stitched together from British TV shows), but they are unique — they have an astute understanding of mature male friendship that is rare, even in a male-dominated industry. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoAug 16, 2017
The Trip to Spain, perhaps isn’t quite up to the series’ opener (“The Trip,” 2010), it’s certainly a healthy cut above the second film (“The Trip to Italy,” 2014). Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 16, 2017
The proof that the “Trip” formula hasn’t become formulaic? How often, and hard, these two can make an audience laugh. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 15, 2017
The Trip to Spain is still worth it for that stamp on your passport and the giggles these two fussing, mismatched friends make — two cynics abroad, making each other miserable and us amused. Read full review
75
The Film StageJordan RaupApr 28, 2017
For fans of the series, The Trip to Spain gives one a wholehearted meal of all they could possibly desire. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 24, 2017
The film is, like its predecessors, funny. But the joke is starting to wear just a bit thin. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekAug 14, 2017
Winterbottom is a gifted and extraordinarily versatile director. In the Trip projects, he may have found something of a meal ticket, but he still goes beyond the call of duty in making them cinematic. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 11, 2017
The Trip to Spain plays like it’s no big deal — a throwaway — but it’s consistently funny, its bitterness nudging the sweetness into complexity, its sweetness tempering the soupçon of despair. If that also sounds like a food review, well, someone has to write one. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanApr 28, 2017
That The Trip to Spain is unabashedly more of the same is good news…but not entirely good news. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 11, 2017
The funny thing about this series is that, although we are regularly shown the most exquisite dishes, neither Coogan nor Brydon has much to say about them beyond the mandatory oohs and aahs. Winterbottom works in some midlife crises material, as he also did in “The Trip to Italy,” but to less effect here. Read full review
67
ConsequenceMatt MelisAug 11, 2017
Like Italy before it, Spain doesn’t prove as rich a journey as Coogan and Brydon’s original trip. For fans of the comics, bits, scenery, and pacing, the formula is still successfully in play for the most part, and everyone will pick out their favorite moments of Coogan and Brydon’s brilliant shtick. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 10, 2017
How many times can you watch two middle-aged men impersonate Michael Caine? Your answer to that question will determine whether you should tag along with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on their third and latest fictionalized (and largely improvised) eating tour of Europe. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 10, 2017
Over all, the food porn was played down, the series is getting a little road-weary and who knows what happens with these guys next. If they’re thinking about heading to France, a horny Frenchman has some good advice: Paris can wait. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 11, 2017
As exposed as the actors allow themselves to be, their mostly improvised script never takes them anywhere, and the rough edge of their banter seems to acknowledge as much. At least they get to eat. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoApr 28, 2017
Conversational drama (ala Linklater’s Before franchise), plates piled with last-meal dinner fantasies, unparalleled improv – third time is still the charm, but Michael Winterbottom lets the stew boil a bit too long. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 28, 2017
The good news for fans is that The Trip to Spain is no Godfather III. The moderately bad news is that this sometimes hilarious outing is the one in which the conceit comes to resemble a lushly produced, irregularly broadcast TV series. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 15, 2017
Thing is, this third movie plays less like some bookend chapter of a complete saga than a floundering middle season of a television show that’s settled into a formulaic groove—which makes sense, given that each Trip is actually a condensed version of an episodic miniseries that aired on British television first. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 10, 2017
A certain exhaustion sets in well before the end, collapsing any meaningful distinction between camera-hogging self-indulgence and critical scrutiny. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisAug 10, 2017
Though the spaces between the funny voices are filled with verdant hillsides and vanilla beaches that stretch the length of the frame, there’s an occasional sour edge to the comedic sparring. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 8, 2017
The premise of Michael Winterbottom's series has devolved from moderately diverting to actively stifling. Read full review
50
TheWrapDan CallahanApr 28, 2017
What Coogan and Brydon are doing in these films is an acquired taste, but if they want to continue on doing them then they’re going to need to cut down and edit their interminable actor impressions. Read full review
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