The Ten Best Films of 2014: #4

#4


The fall-down-funniest film of the year is Michael Winterbottom's "The Trip to Italy," even more delightful than 2011's "The Trip" through the North of England. This new film is a tour de force of impersonation and improvisation by co-stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Its joy lies in their bickering and battling impressions of everyone from Michael Caine and Dustin Hoffman to Al Pacino and Roger Moore, the all-synapses-firing intellectual one-upmanship that rides the slenderest of tendrils from one subject to the next. Although the images of Italy (and the food) alone merit the price of admission, don't expect to sit back and look at pretty pictures with your brain turned off. I didn't stop laughing the entire time, and at one point I caught myself actually slapping my knees. Here's hoping Winterbottom, Coogan and Brydon (a true comic genius) reconvene every few years.