Howled like a loon. Good to see Mr. Brent back and in top form.
Awesome. I've never felt so sorry for Brent. A masterpiece.
While so much of David Brent's world is about the joke being on Brent for much of this movie it felt like the joke was on the audience. Part of what made the original series great was that we got to know the secondary characters. In this movie the secondary characters' existence is to reinforce what a flawed figured that Brent is. The cringe worked in the original series because you didn't get it in every scene. In this movie it was everywhere. I have loved literally everything that Gerais has ever done (including his lesser-known dramas) but this movie wasn't great or even good.
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Cash grab. Or ego stroke. Very disappointing... Let's hope it burst Gervais' bubble for a while.
Disappointed there weren't any Office cameos, and the movie isn't as good as The Office was, but still decent.
Ricky Gervais revisits the creation he and Stephen Marchant created that started him off to fame and fortune. Probably his best-loved character the insufferable fool David Brent. Originally, he was the boss at the Wernham Hogg ‘Office’ Brent was a brilliant monster created of all the parts to many idiots we have all had to work with or come across but had just enough pathos and sympathy thrown into the mix to make him bearable and elicit some form of sympathy.
Gervais obviously felt it was time to grow the goatee dust off the suit and bring us up to date with David Brent.
Therein lie the rub. Whilst everything you know about Brent is there and is very funny nothing has moved on for him. So, we are treated to whole slew of the usual car-crash remarks, looks and moments from the life of a man who we are told has lost his management role, nearly lost his mind, apparently lost a lovely girlfriend (from the TV show) and is not particularly liked by half of his work colleagues.
Much loved TV comedy brought the big screen has the words ‘flop’ etched next to it more than ‘hit’ and perhaps Gervais should have looked at the past before he embarked on this project. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a much better take on this idea. The difference between the two is what makes one film good and one film m’eh. Alan Partridge is, more-or-less, a 90% unlikable egomaniac idiot and Steve Coogan keeps him true to that and moves him into a situation which he has never been in before and is unusual and unlikely – you know he’ll come out of it, but how? Ricky Gervais wants the audience to like David Brent so although he does and says many idiotic and awful things we have a finale that seems at odds with the rest of the story. This part, whilst it makes you smile, makes the film feel a bit flat at the end.
Despite my review sounding like I disliked the film I in fact mostly enjoyed it. There are certainly some great moments in both the watching through your fingers and laughing out loud that you expect with David Brent’s adventures. The introduction of Ben Bailey Johnson’s rapper ups the quotient and gives you many scenes where you feel you should not be laughing but you are. Johnson is certainly a bright spot in this film.
Except for David Brent, no characters from the original Office TV show are in the film but if you look closely they are. See if you can spot Gareth, Tim, Lucy and Finchy at least. They are there. This is a shame because with the clout Gervais must have nowadays he really could have pushed this boat out in a new riskier direction. In the end, he was safe and gave us David Brent in the same situations that we are used to and happy with. It is funny. It is cringeworthy.
The redemption for a character that is clearly close to Grevais’ heart at the film’s close was bordering on unreal, after all Brent is an insufferable, idiotic and at times downright insufferable fool and basically only three characters actually liked him throughout the film, so everyone rallying around and socialising him? Not really and it weakens the story.
Maybe though this is the marker for that glorious monster Mr. Brent and it is time to say goodbye to Slough, or should that be Reading’s, most infamous son?
A mockumentary following the life of The Office UK star David Brent as he goes on tour with his band ‘Foregone Conclusion’.
After two seasons of The Office and a couple of Christmas specials, it’s hard to understand why Ricky Gervais has decided to return to his now infamous David Brent character, when the series seemed to end so perfectly. Indeed, Life on the Road doesn’t really offer up enough new material to justify its existence.
The script is funny but doesn’t come close to re-kindling the magic of the original series, possibly down to the absence of writing partner Stephen Merchant. Perhaps that wasn’t the aim, but if so then it simply re-emphasises the fact that there isn’t enough for Brent to go it alone.
Gervais has always had a knack for making the audience cringe and make fun of a character before brutally reminding us that they are human. In The Office and Extras it works rather well but here it’s forced and clumsy.
I went in with high hopes but there’s no denying that Life on the Road misses the mark.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2017/02/11/davidbrentlifeontheroad/
Good old Brent. Feel sorry for the guy but then that's the point I guess. Nice, feel good ending though.
As a big David Brent film I was looking forward to seeing this. It is enjoyable and painfully funny, more for fans than newbies to the character.
Shout by chazTVBlockedParent2017-02-11T03:52:22Z
Great fun, whether or not you've seen The Office (UK), and if you haven't -- "Life on the Road" will likely motivate you to take a look... a spoiler free prequel-sequel... :-)