David Brent: Life on the Road (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written August 22nd, 2016*

"Gervais. Stop."

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching Ricky Gervais’ latest film, David Brent: Life on the Road, it’s that David Brent was never what made The Office truly great. While he was a likeable and misguided buffoon, he had a heart that brought an emotional core to the show, but it was the rest of the cast that brought balance to the show. Life on the Road is 90 minutes of non-stop David Brent in your face, and it is insufferable.

Life on the Road takes place several years after Brent’s run on The Office and a documentary crew catch up with him as he takes a month away from his job as a tampon salesman in order to take his band ‘Forgone Conclusion’ on the road in one last effort for a shot at fame.

Ricky Gervais still plays David Brent to near perfection, he’s just as pathetic, embarrassing and cringe-worthy as he was in the early 2000s. For the first 20 minutes I was in a state of euphoria, I was loving it. While Gervais’ recent output has been anything but good, I was really hoping he could bring it back with the revival of his most loved character. And he did. For 20 minutes.

Before Brent actually goes on tour, things seem great and hopeful. The jokes come thick and fast, they mostly all land, but then it hits a slump that it never recovers from and being with Brent is insufferable. I will admit I wasn’t the most positive about going to see Life on the Road, but I never wanted it to be bad. But spending 90 minutes with Brent and his annoying laugh is a tedious chore that should have never left its 20 minute segments on TV.

There are a few moments of greatness littered throughout and there some really, really good songs. ‘Don’t Make Fun of Disableds’ was a highlight, and we once again get to hear ‘Equality Street’ from the Red Nose Day special. This was all fine, but when the focus shifted from the gig to Brent, things came tumbling down.

My biggest disappointment was with what they tease us with, but never explore. We early on discover that Brent has been clinically depressed, been in therapy and is on anti-depressants, which would have made for far more interesting material than him desperately trying to cling to fame. These elements are talked about in all but two scenes then are quickly discarded like it’s not important. Any time they go anywhere near interesting or dark, they back away in favour of crude and cringe-worthy humour, which was frustrating to say the least.

In terms of Brent’s arc throughout. None of it is earned. His band members hate and find him annoying at the beginning, refusing to drink with him unless they’re paid, but do a complete 180 in the final moments which felt completely unnatural and weird. There was no real reason for this character change. I feel Gervais bullet pointed that at the beginning of the film the band hate him, but at the end they like him, but he completely forgot to write why this happened. It was very lazy and a way to force an emotional moment for the audience that didn’t work at all.

The lack of characters from The Office was very disappointing too. I know this a David Brent film and not an Office film, but aside from a couple of references to gags from The Office, it added an extra layer of disappointment that Brent doesn’t even mention or stay in contact with any of the characters from The Office. Which is pretty much against everything the perfect Christmas special delivered. It was all just depressing, I’m not saying a forced cameo from Tim, Dawn, Gareth or Finchy would have helped things, but some acknowledgement would have gone a long way.


I’m really in the camp that Stephen Merchant should have been part of this . While Brent is Gervais’ baby, Merchant has been there since his inception and really helped mould the character to what  we saw in The Office, without him, it all just fell flat. I wouldn’t say I “hated” Life on the Road, but I wouldn’t say it’s a good film at all, it is definitely  bad, disappointing, annoying and a far cry from the once great work from Gervais such as The Office and Extras. There’s a certain irony to all this. Gervais has practically become Andy Millman from Extras, a sellout trying to milk characters that should have stayed buried. It’s sad and pathetic, and quite upsetting that Gervais has slumped so low after such greatness. Please, Gervais. Just stop.


3/10 Dans

David Brent: Life on the Road is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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