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REVIEW: “I’ll try anything once, just maybe not on this trip.”
Yes, if you thought Richard Ayoade’s Travel Man was the least adventurous, or enthusiastic, globetrotting guide, just wait until you meet Eugene Levy in The Reluctant Traveler (which begins streaming on Apple TV+ today, February 24).
Perhaps closer in style to being a not-quite-as-eccentric and far less curious Jeff Goldblum, the now 76-year-old, Canadian-born former Schitt’s Creek, American Pie and Best in Show star appears regularly pained as he schelps his across exotic lands as diverse as Italy, Japan, the Maldives, South Africa and Portugal during the eight-part series.
Sure he might get to stay in some truly opulent surroundings and remarkable hotels, but, as he mock-morosely informs us “the catch is I’ve agreed to explore what lies outside – the world I’ve spent my whole life avoiding”.
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In the opening, Finland-set episode, that means attempting ice fishing (where he’s shown up by a six-year-old), husky sledding, sampling reindeer (“You didn’t have to say ‘half-raw’,” the man who confesses to not having adventurous palate tells his hosts, “you’ve ruined Christmas for me.”) and an evening of sampling vodka. It’s while seemingly enjoying the latter that he signs up for something he instantly regrets the following morning.
But things get even hairier for the well-endowed eye-browed Levy in the next, Central American-set installment.
“Saving the rainforest is burned on my consciousness, visiting the rainforest is not,” he informs us as he arrives in region’s most popular tourist destination – Costa Rica. With no army and high life-expectancy, it might be a famously peaceful country, but Levy’s concerned about staying “in a jungle full of things that could kill you”.
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Eugene Levy is The Reluctant Traveler.
“I’ve never been camping, or spent a night in a tent,” he tells his accommodation’s shocked manager, admitting also to feeling “a cocktail of paranoia and nervous anxiety”. It’s tension not helped when he asks about the nearby mountain providing a picturesque backdrop to his lush outlook, only to be told that it’s actually an active volcano. “That’s what US$1000 a night gets us – an ensuite natural disaster,” he quaveringly quips.
What follows makes for fascinating, entertaining and often hilarious viewing, as Levy grimaces his way through a night jungle tour, opens up to a “forest therapist” (“I once lost US$800 in a poker game,” he confesses, hoping that Mrs Levy might not be watching) and attends an 85-year-old’s birthday party, before being faced with something that literally might be a bridge too far.
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Avuncular, self-deprecating and winningly low-key charming, Eugene Levy might well just become your new favourite guide to the what the world has to offer.
It all makes for funny, undemanding viewing that’s perhaps more aspirational, than inspirational.
Most of the places Levy is staying at are likely to be out of the average viewer’s reach, but the people he meets are down-to-earth and genuine and the experiences (bar perhaps some of the food), unsurprisingly, aren’t too daunting for the risk-averse.
Avuncular, self-deprecating and winningly low-key charming, Levy might well just become your new favourite guide to the what the world has to offer.
The Reluctant Traveler begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, February 24.
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