Movie Review David Brent Life On The Road

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2016 - Spoiler alerts A Ricky Gervais vanity project that falls flat on many levels. David Brent was the main character in the mockumentary series The Office, the UK version that spawned an equally successful US spin off. The UK series ended with Brent fired but finally finding a promise of a stable relationship. It was the perfect end to the story. Fifteen years on,without co-writer Stephen Merchant, or The Office co-stars like Martin Freeman & Mackenzie Crook, Gervais rashly decided to revisit Brent, who is appropriately in a similar mid-life crisis funk Gervais was in to come up with this drivel. Brent alway said he would be a rock-musician in The Office and now he has a band, Foregone Conclusion, actually the second of his bands of that name. Brent decides to take a month off work, using his savings to take the band on tour, (actually just a string of gigs round London). Most characters hate Brent. His new office job (selling on phones in a call centre rather than being the manager) divides the staff between those amused by him and those who hate him. The band members refuse to travel with him or socialize with him unless he pays them for their company. He tells racist jokes, (an excuse to have politically incorrect material and double not laugh at characters reacting in shock to Brent telling them on Gervais's behalf). The songs are not bad, but hardly memorable, and the whole thing looks cheap. Much of the film screams Brent is a loser before characters finally inexplicably admit they like him really after showing no sign of why they changed their minds. Many scenes are just Gervaise alone talking to camera in cars or hotel rooms, so it all looks under-funded. The gigs attract few punters and fail, so again the film has no money thrown at it despite Gervais being quite wealthy from the success of The Office. There are also few recognizable faces apart from Gervais. Singer Peter Andre briefly appears as himself. Diane Morgan, comedy actress, appears as a publicity agent and rapper Ben Bailey Smith plays a character hired by Brent just to prove Brent isn't racist and only reinforcing the fact that he is. Smith's rapping is genuinely great and justifiably his character alone gets a decent music career from the tour. The film itself seems as dammed as the tour and really makes it a challenge to see Brent and Gervais as separate entities at all. Youtube - Theme to The Office The Stereophonics - Handbags And Gladrags Arthur Chappell