Truthfully, I walked into the theatre expecting some fun based upon such a high IMDb review. The premise of two respected comedians doing a semi- scripted trip around a set of Italian restaurants had some good potential.
However, it became quickly clear that this was a very self-indulgent "selfie". Apparently more so for Brydon, whose non-stop impressions became tiresome about half way through the movie. There certainly were a consistent run of chuckles, but there were no really funny moments.
Unless you're a film buff, dozens of vague (and potentially funny) references would be lost upon the audience. The college-level humour was lost on much of the audience and many walked out without that "just saw a fun movie" look on their faces.
The scenes involving the kitchens and restaurants were too brief and didn't really set any sense of place or any real love of the food being served. There was no "love" in the way the food was presented and no appreciation of the food by the characters. The premise was that one of them is writing an article about travelling to six restaurants, no?
There was no real discovery of the two stories of Brydon's unhappy marital situation or Coogan's desire to be closer to his son. We could have added some discussion between the men about their respective challenges. Instead, all we got was improvised conversation between two guys that would have normal customers asking the staff to shut them up. The only tender moments were left to the final 30 seconds of each of the six days.
Was the director trying to accomplish too much or was there a lack of skill presenting the parallel stories? I don't know.
The scenery and the food stole this otherwise disappointing show. We walked out of there thinking of our next menu.
What really hit my partner and I about the film was the boredom at the end of each day as each character met with Brydon's dismissive wife too busy with her work and being a single mum at home with a young child or Coogan just going to sleep, bored and listening to his ipad playing music. Seriously, if the actors are that bored, then how can we be entertained?
However, it became quickly clear that this was a very self-indulgent "selfie". Apparently more so for Brydon, whose non-stop impressions became tiresome about half way through the movie. There certainly were a consistent run of chuckles, but there were no really funny moments.
Unless you're a film buff, dozens of vague (and potentially funny) references would be lost upon the audience. The college-level humour was lost on much of the audience and many walked out without that "just saw a fun movie" look on their faces.
The scenes involving the kitchens and restaurants were too brief and didn't really set any sense of place or any real love of the food being served. There was no "love" in the way the food was presented and no appreciation of the food by the characters. The premise was that one of them is writing an article about travelling to six restaurants, no?
There was no real discovery of the two stories of Brydon's unhappy marital situation or Coogan's desire to be closer to his son. We could have added some discussion between the men about their respective challenges. Instead, all we got was improvised conversation between two guys that would have normal customers asking the staff to shut them up. The only tender moments were left to the final 30 seconds of each of the six days.
Was the director trying to accomplish too much or was there a lack of skill presenting the parallel stories? I don't know.
The scenery and the food stole this otherwise disappointing show. We walked out of there thinking of our next menu.
What really hit my partner and I about the film was the boredom at the end of each day as each character met with Brydon's dismissive wife too busy with her work and being a single mum at home with a young child or Coogan just going to sleep, bored and listening to his ipad playing music. Seriously, if the actors are that bored, then how can we be entertained?