David Brent: Life on the Road

"Life on the Road" is a mockumentary sequel to the classic British version of the TV comedy "The Office" (obviously later remade for the US market and featuring Steve Carrell). Ricky Gervais played the ego-centric David Brent, a monster of a character who exercised what little control he had in his managerial role at a Slough paper company.

Here in "Life on the Road" we join Brent 15 years later where he has taken a rung or two down the career ladder and is working as a sales rep for Lavachem, a sanitary goods manufacturer, also based in Slough.

But Brent still harbors a dream of making it big in the rock world with his middle-of-the-road band called 'Foregone Conclusion (2)'. Gathering around him his ethnic rapper 'friend' Dom Johnson (Doc Brown) and a band of session musicians (who can't stand him), Brent cashes in "several pensions" to fund a tour of the venues of Berkshire... or at least, those that will give stage time over to a "shite band". As the tour delivers predictably diminishing returns, and no record-company interest (at least, not in him) Brent is forced to face his inner demons and some uncomfortable truths.

Bringing TV comedy characters to screen is fraught with difficulty, and few have successfully done it. Even legends like Morecambe and Wise struggled with a series of lacklustre films. Perhaps in recent times Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge has come closest with "Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa" and indeed there are a lot of similarities visible between Partridge and Brent: both have extreme ego issues and self-centredness. But there are significant differences as well, for while Partridge is just an irritatingly loud and obnoxious minor-celebrity Brent - as this film makes much clearer - has real mental illness.

Is this therefore a comedy at all? Well, yes, but in a very black way. There are certainly moments of excellent humor, with the tattooing scene being a high-point. But the result of watching Brent's progressive decline, with his nervous laugh as a constant 'fingernails on chalk board' reminder of his insecurity, results in a level of audience squirming that is palpable. Everything he does is perverse, from describing in excruciating detail every song before singing it, to spending his money on multiple hotel rooms when every gig is within the County of Berkshire.

As a black comedy its important that it doesn't outstay its welcome, and at 96 minutes it doesn't. However, the film lacks the courage of its own dark convictions, and unnecessarily switches tack in the last reel to provide a degree of redemption for Brent. Whilst 'sweet', it is also implausible given what's happened before and I would have suspected the interference of the director in lightening the mood of the writer's original intent. However, as Gervais is both writer and director, there is no such excuse. That's a shame.

So, in summary, an uncomfortable watch that aligns appropriately with the high squirm factor of the original TV show. Prepare to laugh, but feel a bit guilty in doing so.

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Continuing his unique brand of horribly awkward humour that made The Office such a success (with remakes in the USA, France, Germany, Canada, Chile, Sweden, and Israel), Ricky Gervais resurrects the phenomenon that is David Brent, idiosyncrasies and all. Following on from the Christmas specials, the hapless eponymous character is still a sales rep for a cleaning supplies company, yet still harbours dreams of going on tour with his band, a resurrected Foregone Conclusion.

This film feels a little unnecessary, but that certainly doesn't detract from its enjoyment levels. After the perfect ending given to us by the Christmas specials back in 2003, the character was at peace and it felt like he had achieved some sort of catharsis. Nonetheless, this is premium Gervais - it probably helps that I binge watched all of The Office in the week before watching this, so was in a real Office-y mood. The humour is on point, from Brent's tics (the perfectly judged nervous laugh, the shifty grins to the camera) to his own form of inadvertently offending people. There's a good amount of pathos, too, with Brent really sinking to new lows over the course of the film. The plot is well-suited to the character, and another highlight is the songs - the standout being 'Please Don't Make Fun of the Disabled' - which are just hilarious when delivered by Gervais.

Ultimately, though, it won't stick in the memory for long and it didn't need to be made - nor are the side characters as compelling as the likes of Tim Canterbury, Gareth Keenan, Dawn Tinsley, and Keith Bishop. It also feels a little sweetened and watered down at times, especially towards the end. It feels a little too perfect and not bittersweet enough. Still, an enjoyable 90 minute diversion for any Office fan, and good fun. 66/100.

I'm a big fan of Ricky Gervais' work and consider The Office to be not just his greatest creation, but also one of the best TV comedies ever made. One of the show's biggest strengths was its brevity and I always lived in fear of a dreaded third series that could potentially tarnish its great reputation. So I was a little dubious to say the least when this new David Brent movie was announced. Fortunately, it was only to be about Brent himself and none of the other characters would be involved, but I still felt this had the potential to be a disaster.

As it turns out, I quite enjoyed Life on The Road. Gervais is very solid as Brent and there are plenty of hilarious moments. Obviously, he is working with a much weaker and less-developed cast so the magic of The Office is simply not there but nor should you expect it to be. Tom Basden and Doc Brown are both pretty good and work well with Gervais, despite some major flaws in the writing.

The major positive about this movie is the soundtrack. There is no two ways about it, Brent's/Gervais' music is actually pretty damn good. And not in an ironic way either; this is genuinely enjoyable pop music, well written with decent vocals. It also contains some of the funniest lyrics you will ever hear.

However, there is one major overriding flaw with this movie and that is the way the other characters respond to Brent. What worked so well in The Office was that Brent was this horribly awkward, clumsy, narcissistic man but he was also completely harmless and tragically needy. The way his colleagues and bosses treated him was with frustration but also a level of sensitivity and understanding. People were rarely nasty to him or outwardly condescending. One of the most touching moments in the whole series was when Tim accepts his offer to go out for a drink, knowing that nobody else really wants to and that his feelings would be hurt. This compassionate handling of Brent was such a huge part of The Office's success because nobody would enjoy watching someone so desperate for approval being consistently mocked and insulted.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens in Life on The Road. Brent's new colleagues are generally very unpleasant to him and don't hold anything back. The team of musicians he puts together are completely dismissive of him, refuse to interact with him and are happy to watch him flush his pensions away so they can get paid. It is often quite difficult to watch and just feels really dark and depressing. Fortunately, things improve towards the end and Doc Brown (who he clearly reveres) is always nice to him, but it is still a very uncomfortable experience for much of the movie. I don't know why Gervais chose to introduce this dynamic, but it was certainly a fundamental error.

I'm not sure this movie ever needed to be made but the surprisingly impressive music just about justifies its existence. It's not in the same league as The Office and nor was it likely to be, but it's still reasonably enjoyable with some very funny Brent moments and the best parody soundtrack I have heard to date.

13 years after the end of the beloved sitcom, The Office, David Brent is still stuck in an office, but a documentary crew is filming him again and he decides to go on tour with a band in a last-ditch attempt to live his dreams of being a rock-star. Like most films connected to TV shows, this is annoying since it doesn't connect to the show enough, with Gareth, Tim and Dawn disappointingly absent. Ricky Gervais was never the most impressive actor in The Office, but he gives a good (If often irritating) tragicomic performance here. This film serves as an interesting exploration of the character and has many good laughs and touching character moments along the way; it humanizes David Brent, though don't worry it also embarrasses him and every opportunity. The trouble is, there's a line between comedy and sadism and after a funny first half, the film just gets extremely uncomfortable and stops being enjoyable. The Office was quite depressing. Extras was incredibly depressing. But this- wow. Be warned: you will cringe. A lot. The original show had enough realism and honesty to pull off the cringe, as it felt so truthful but here the uncomfortable stuff goes too far. I can tell Stephen Merchant was the one who added the nuance that made the sitcom so good. With Gervais on his own, there's no-one to stop him from taking the cringe comedy too far. Even so, while he's clearly not as good as he was, there's no denying that this is a funny and often enjoyable road movie with some nice bits of drama.

6/10

I liked this comedy and i find it sad that many people are bashing it. It has many funny moments throughout and it is also giving a message at the same time. Probably those who didn't like it were comparing it to the Office and there are similarities of course but this is different it is a movie and it is a romantic comedy actually. I do recommend it especially for people who like Ricky and his style it's all there all what you need to get the best of him. Even the songs are nice and catchy.