a hotel room that overlooks something worth seeing
I want a room with a view.The Trip · 2011 — Chapter 3 of 20 · 4'18" · B2
The Michael Caine Impression Duel, Explained: take a long, hard look in the mirror
Two men at dinner turn a Michael Caine impression into a fight over who hears the voice right. One keeps insisting "Let me finish" while the other attacks the nasal tone and the emotional crack. Underneath, the joke is status: who is the accurate one, and who ought to look in the mirror.
What happens
At a restaurant table, talk jumps from a room with a view into a long Michael Caine impression. One man explains how the voice dropped and keeps demanding to finish. The other corrects the nose, the volume, and the emotion, then they slide into food jokes, a Heat parody, and a pun on levity, brevity, and gravity before the gums.
Listen for
levity, brevity, gravityin one gosuch a thing asa room with a view
00:00 / 04:18Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
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Phrase of the scene
levity, brevity, gravity
a wordplay on lightness, shortness, and seriousness
布赖登说自己喜欢幽默、喜欢轻松、喜欢简短，库根顺势把 levity, brevity, gravity 抛回去，拿他的性格开涮。
She asked for levity, brevity, gravity, and somehow expected one sentence to do all three.
Also in this scene
- in one go
in a single attempt or session
- such a thing as
used to question whether something exists
- a room with a view
a hotel room that overlooks something worth seeing
Everything marked in this scene
33 notes across 100 lines
I think anyone over 40 who amuses themself by doing impressions needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror.Well, broadsheet journalists have described my impressions as stunningly accurate.I've not heard your Michael Caine, but I assume it would be something along the lines of: My name's Michael Caine.I say Michael Caine used to talk like this in the 1960s, right?used to for past habits
I say Michael Caine used to talk like this in the 1960s, right?weak form
I say Michael Caine used to talk like this in the 1960s, right?has come down... several octaves.Let me finish.I've not fucking finished.'Cause you're panicking. You know I'm about to...be about to do
Because you look like you're about to bloody talk!It's not quite nasal enough the way you're doing it, all right?You're not doing it the way he speaks!You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!elision
You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!Hotter than I was expecting.comparative with than
Hotter than I was expecting.Ain't got it, Al. We can't do it. We can't do it.Hey, calm it down. All right. Sorry.Yeah, well, not sure about that, but anyway...in a single attempt or session
I directed the whole movie in one go.liaison
I directed the whole movie in one go.used to question whether something exists
Is there such a thing as an autistic impressionist?'Cause if there is, I think that might be the key to your condition.I don't know, but I see a guy with something stuck up his ass who's too uptight to let go.I don't know, but I see a guy with something stuck up his ass who's too uptight to let go.too ... to do
I don't know, but I see a guy with something stuck up his ass who's too uptight to let go.Gravity? Where do you stand on that?Um, firmly. On terra firma.I caught your work the other day.food gets stuck in your teeth more?The Michael Caine Impression Duel, explained
What's really going on
The impression is the cover for a status fight. One side treats mimicry after 40 as something to be ashamed of: "I think anyone over 40 who amuses themself by doing impressions needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror." The other answers with newspaper praise and a lecture on how Caine's voice changed, then will not yield the floor. "Let me finish" stops being a request and becomes the bit. Corrections about nasal tone and the broken emotional voice are less about Caine than about who has the right ear. When the table gets loud, "It's all right. They don't mind. They love it" pretends the room is an audience. A pun on levity, brevity, and gravity, plus the crack about being too uptight to let go, keeps the same argument going: one man performs ease, the other is accused of holding on. Even the gums line, food stuck in the teeth, turns aging into another contest.
Theme
PrideEach correction of the Caine voice claims the better ear, and the mirror line turns a party trick into a verdict on who should feel ashamed.
SatireImpressions, a Heat parody about a celebrity magazine, and a pun on levity and gravity mock how performers rank one another.
What you'll learn
- Use let me finish to hold the floor
- Hear about to as the next second
- A look in the mirror can be a rebuke
Listen for
- used to — weak form
- supposed to — elision
- in one go — liaison
I think anyone over 40 who amuses themself by doing impressions needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror.A putdown of doing impressions past forty. It sounds like advice to look in the mirror, but here it shames the person who will not stop the voices.
I don't know, but I see a guy with something stuck up his ass who's too uptight to let go.Thrown across the table in the middle of the argument. The picture is crude on purpose. It paints the man as clenched and too proper to relax, and that picture is meant to win the moment.
It's all right. They don't mind. They love it.Comes right after a request to calm it down. It recasts the other tables as fans of the show, so the noise does not have to stop. The following line is already unsure.
"He's not as tall as Coogan, but he's better.Part of a fake television compliment. The man on screen is measured against Coogan and called better, so the flattery works by cutting Coogan down in the same breath.
You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!Used as the proof that the voice has finally become Caine. The next line says so outright. Inside this contest it is the loud, specific burst they have been describing, not a story about a job.
Questions about this scene
Why does the Michael Caine impression turn into a fight?
Accuracy is the prize. Someone guesses the bit will only be "My name's Michael Caine." The reply says that is the very thing not being done, then traces a lower, slower voice and a crack when it turns emotional. Notes about the nose and the volume are really claims that the other version is not Caine.
Why does someone keep saying "Let me finish"?
The story of the voice, from the 1960s down several octaves, with cigars and brandy still in it, keeps getting cut off. "Let me finish" is how the floor is held, more than once. The other person looks ready to jump in, and that near-interruption is the joke.
Why do the scallop lines turn into a Heat routine?
A server has just asked if everything was okay. The answers drift from tomato-y and soupy to "Hotter than I was expecting" and "Plenty of heat in my scallops." Someone points out there is a joke in heat, and the word flips to Michael Mann's film. De Niro and Pacino are then cast as editors of a celebrity magazine, still barking "What do you got?"
What is the levity, brevity, and gravity exchange really about?
Someone claims to like humor, levity, and brevity. The reply asks where he stands on gravity, and "Firmly. On terra firma" pretends gravity only means the ground. "You like levity, brevity, and gravity" then sticks all three words on him. Same game as the impressions: who gets the last twist.
Do the other tables really love the show?
Right after a plea to calm it down, someone says "It's all right. They don't mind. They love it." The next line will not back it up: "Yeah, well, not sure about that." The boast is part of the bit. The scene never shows the room clapping.
The Trip · 20 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 4in a troughSteve Calls From the Trough
Chapter 1have someone down asSteve and Rob Set Off
Chapter 2part of its charmSteve and Rob Share a Room
Watching · Chapter 3take a long, hard look in the mirrorThe Michael Caine Impression Duel
Chapter 4in a troughSteve Calls From the Trough
Chapter 5put someone on the back footCalls on the Road to Cartmel
Chapter 6the king of understatementBond Impressions Over Dinner
Chapter 7living the dreamTelling Steve He's Living the Dream
Chapter 8method in my madnessSteve and Rob at Greta Hall
Chapter 9contend withSteve and Rob Rank Their Careers
Chapter 10not unlikeTurned Away at Dove Cottage
Chapter 11at first lightSteve and Rob's Costume Drama
Chapter 12not a lot of people knowThe Michael Caine Impressions
Chapter 13Cut to the chaseSteve Takes His Agent's Call
Chapter 14don't come running to meShushed on the B Roads
Chapter 15a wee bitA Phone Call by the Lake
Chapter 16an albatross around my neckCoogan and Brydon Compare Careers
Chapter 17as empty experiences goDad Phones Joe About Drinking
Chapter 18stick the knife inMock Eulogy at the Grave
Chapter 19if push came to shoveHiring Divers for the Gesture
Chapter 20as broad as it's longSteve Leaves His ParentsChapter 3 of 20 · about 88 min to go