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sarmi40
Reviews
The Trip (2002)
Cheesy and ridiculous
I have just seen the DVD of The Trip and am, frankly, aghast at all the positive reviews this movie has had. I can't deny that it has its moments, but it is, overall, awful. First, let me say it is not the fault of all the crew. The acting is not bad at all; both leads do the best that they can with cardboard-paper roles, and indeed, they actually make the movie 'watchable'. The fact that they managed to make stereotypical, ridiculous characters lovable (and they are) is quite amazing. Indeed, the fact that they could cope with such a lousy work from the hair department (one of the leads spends the first 20 minutes of the film with the worst wig I've ever seen on film) and still be believable is worth of praise. The support actors are a little over the top at times, but bearable. But the movie, overall, collapses despite these efforts. The director had no idea if he wanted a comedy or a tragedy, so he basically settled for a comedy-tragedy, which is not the same as a tragicomedy. The tone is all over the place; at one second you are witnessing gags, the next you're witnessing a serious tour de force through gay politics with documentary footage, and then you're in the midst of unexplained tragedy, with bits and pieces of romantic comedy here and there (the only parts of the movie that work). Most of the plot is outright ABSURD... the plot is driven by the fact that a guy in a four year relationship cannot manage to apologise, or even have a conversation, with his lover, for an honest mistake. It feels completely forced, ridiculous and out of character (the guy basically spends the rest of the movie apologising for everything else... that's pretty much his drive). The sudden infatuation and near-obsession of the "evil character" is just as absurd and unexplained. So is the deux ex-machina intervention of an ex girlfriend with whom the character didn't have much contact overall... basically, if the writer needed things moving in a certain direction, he would just do it with the first solution that came to mind. Finally, the death that seals the story just comes pretty much out of nowhere, tonally speaking... the writer wanted melodrama so he had to kill someone (who besides coughing a bit didn't really seem at near-death sickness, may I say). As a gay man myself, I am all for good gay stories getting out there. And one can stand a few flaws here and there in a first feature. But when the characters are being driven like puppets just to get some idea or image across, the whole thing just falls to pieces like a house of cards. And that's what happens here. So if you like sappy stories, watch it anyway (it has its sweet moments that account for the time lost). But if you're looking for cinema, let this one pass.