Review of David Brent: Life on the Road (2016) by Alex H — 13 Dec 2016

Seeing Ricky Gervais make this movie happen is as sad as watching David Brent trying to get his band and tour up and running. I love the original UK Office and the trailer did intrigue me (namely the "Squirt" joke) but Brent's jump to the big screen is flawed and misguided much like his own persona.

Firstly, the cringe and humour feels far too forced and lacks a level of realism which made the original run of The Office so memorable and special. Certain set ups like when Brent gets a tattoo made me howl but others made me wince with embarrassment but not for the character of Brent but for Gervais himself as the star and director.

Secondly, the film isn't shot and doesn't look like a documentary would be filmed, again, another quirk the series originally had which added to the brash sometimes unpredictable nature of the humour.

Thirdly, as with all TV shows/TV characters who transition to movies there ALWAYS has to be a reason the film will be projected and shown in cinemas. This is not the case with Life on The Road where the film see's more at home as TV special that'd be aired during Children in Need or Red Nose Day due to it's lack of visual cinematic set pieces.

The cast do as best as they can given the material but even the script feels very undercooked and is truly missing the hand of Stephen Merchant to add some influence to the uneven flow. For my money Brent's foray into music was always his least interesting and amusing aspect of his character but the overall moral of the story and The Office's trademark ever present poignancy saves the film from being a total mess if not for the heavily convenient third act.

Hopefully Gervais will let the character be now and get over him in the way the public in Life on the Road have forgotten about him (if not with a little fondness).