David Brent: a Vida na Estrada

Filmed in the same style as the TV Series this is a fly-on-the-wall documentary about everyone's favourite cringe-inducing boss David Brent as he attempts to hit the big time as a rock star with his band Foregone Conclusion.

The Office was like a breath of fresh air when it first arrived back in 2001 and it is a TV Series that I adore and can watch over and over again - I believe this was one of the first comedy series that brought about what can only be described as 'cringe-humour'. Life On The Road is presumably intended as a swan song for the character of David Brent and predictably the film as a whole falls short of the TV Series, but does still produce plenty of laughs....

In essence taking Brent out of the office and having him go on tour basically gives him the opportunity to showcase his delusions and social awkwardness to a much larger group of people. This does provide plenty of laughs and there are many scenes that do provide us with some classic Brent cringe moments. Whilst there are lots of funny scenes and lots of jokes that do work there are occasions when the comedy feels a bit forced (the joke about the Chinese was a bit awkward) and the continual jokes about Doc Brown being black are overused and start to wear thin - although many of the jokes are quite funny.

The film is generally funny when Brent is out on tour with his band, but sadly the same can't really be said for the scenes within the office; in fairness it was always going to be difficult to substitute the likes of Dawn, Gareth and Tim, but something just didn't feel right with many of Brent's co-workers. In the TV Series pretty much everyone in the Office disliked Brent, but you never felt that they held any kind of deep felt hatred or resentment towards him I personally just felt that a lot of his colleagues were sort of indifferent towards him. In Life on the road, his co-workers either really hate him (which sometimes gives the film a rather nasty tone) or they really like him (which sort of negates everything that his character is about). Having one of the characters being as cringe-inducing as Brent himself was a misstep in my book as part of what made Brent funny in the Office is that he thought he was funny, but no-one else did. I found Brent's behaviour in the Office 'funny-awkward' whereas his scenes with his workers in this film were more 'awkward-awkward'.

Inevitably trying to make a character who we're used to seeing in 30 minute segments and making him funny for 90 minutes is a tall order and it shows here; there were gaps in the film where I wasn't laughing whereas in the TV Series I was nearly always laughing. This result in a film that is mostly funny rather than being consistently funny.

Gervais wrote, directed and starred in this film so I suppose it's to be expected that he is front and centre in the picture, but he does make the film feel like a one-man show far too often; he doesn't really allow many of the characters much room to develop and I also felt it was a pity that poor Doc Brown was reduced to little more than being a barrage of jokes about his race and a straight man to Brent's character (though the film does allow Brown to showcase his talents - he's actually a decent rapper).

The film does get a little sappy at the end and some of the character shifts towards the end are also a little questionable, but in the main there are enough amusing moments to keep fans of the TV Series happy. Yes it's a flawed film, but it's a pretty funny one too.

David Brent: Life on the Road is written & directed by Ricky Gervais and stars Ricky Gervais, Jo Hartley, Ben Bailey Smith and Tom Bennett.

A camera crew catches up with 'The Office' star, David Brent, as he pursues his lifelong dream of becoming a rockstar on the road.

Gervais' comedic genius was firmly planted in toe-curlingly awkward situations back in 2001, with two very successful series and specials of The Office. 'Life on the Road' explores Brent's life after the events of the show, and continues to spawn the incredibly hard-to-watch moments that Brent gets himself into. The scenes in the new office are perfectly written and performed, welcoming us back to the situational comedy that was so brilliantly crafted.

Unfortunately, once we leave the office the film slightly degrades into something more average than superior. However, this doesn't mean there aren't more hilarious scenes to follow, it just seems less consistent. I also thought that as the film moved into its final 15 minutes, it seemed like a bit of Derek had made its way into the character of Brent. That said, the heartfelt scenes were satisfying. It's possible that without Merchant's co-writing the screenplay wasn't as great as it could have been, but wishful thinking is something I like to do without.

A lot of the band performances felt a little repetitive after a while, but they did include some funny moments. The music (also written by Gervais) is catchy and fun, adding a new dynamic that we only briefly heard in the original series.

All of the actors involved are extremely convincing and show great chemistry with Brent. I felt that some of the characters were underused, most notably Nigel (played by Tom Bennett), who was surprisingly delightful.

Overall, it was as I expected it to be and I am fairly pleased with how it turned out. It's not as consistently funny or awkward as I'd hoped, but it has a lot of heart. Gervais seems to implement a lot more emotion into his work now that he has gone solo, which is nice to see. Fans of Gervais will like it. Others, not so much.

Verdict; David Brent: Life on the Road is an above-average follow up to the original series and while it does lack at times, it's a pretty enjoyable experience.

David Brent: Life on the Road, 7/10.

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.

In common with a lot of people in the UK I was a big fan of the office TV series which aired over 10 years ago. The return of David Brent should have been something that was exciting and yet even before seeing the film there seemed to be an inevitable anti climax looming. Firstly it wasn't clear why the format should move from the small screen to the big screen. Secondly the Office worked because of the supporting cast, so could David Brent hold up a movie on his own.

The movie catches up with David Brent still dreaming about a musical career. He's left management behind and is now on the office floor with mixed popularity with the rest of the office. He decides to hire a backing group and go for a tour in his holidays to finally make the big break in music.

People familiar with the Office will not be surprised to find that Brent hasn't changed too much over the years. The humour hasn't really dated very well though, although there are a few very funny scenes mixed with a few cringe worthy moments.

The backing cast are OK, but not as integral to the movie as the cast were to the Office. The running time seems a little long and the 2 concerns prior to the movie came to fruition. This felt like a decent 50 minute TV special rather than a big screen movie. Even fans of the office are probably better off skipping the movie and waiting for it to appear on the small screen. It certainly will not lose anything on the small screen.

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.