Director: Ricky Gervais. 96 mins. BBC Films/Entertainment One. (15).
Comedy
3/5 Good worth watching
Synopsis
David Brent (Ricky Gervais) was previously the star of an early, ground-breaking ‘fly on the wall’ BBC2 documentary about life in a paper merchant’s office in turn of the 21st century Britain.
Times have changed since then, and he now works as a sales rep for Lavichem, selling toiletries and cleaning products. But his dreams of being a rock star have not diminished, so with his credit card in hand, he hires a backing group, stage manager and co-singer for a once in a lifetime rock and roll tour of a handful of Berkshire pubs and student unions.
Review by Jason Day
You could be forgiven for thinking the monstrous David Brent had been consigned to the dust-bin of televisual history, considering the last series of The Office was made in 2003 and co-creator Ricky Gervais‘ subsequent and surprising reincarnation as Hollywood’s uber awards ceremony MC.
But my reservations about the film proved unfounded, for Life On the Road proves to be a bang-on continuation of the themes, humour, style, carefully constructed scripts and wince-inducing dialogue and pratfalls of its TV forbear.
‘Cringe-worthy’ is a phrase that could have been invented to describe The Office and Gervais’ own brand of humour. Prepare to cringe big time in this film folks as no target or minority group is left untouched.
Gervais does, however, in a rare show or mercy and charity, gift Brent a happy ending he would never have received on TV.
Gervais must be turning into an old softie, that Hollywood tinsel rubbing off on this movie.
For more, see my full review: http://bit.ly/DavidBrentFilm
Cast & credits
Producers: Ricky Gervais, Charlie Hanson.
Writer: Ricky Gervais.
Camera: Remi Adefarasin.
Sets: Anna Higginson.
Ricky Gervais, Doc Brown, Andy Burrows, Tom Basden, Jo Hartley, Rebecca Gethings, Nina Sosanya, Tom Bennett, Andrew Brooke, Steve Clarke, Michael Clarke, Stuart Wilkinson.
