![]() It’s not Gervais the actor that’s at fault here however, nor Gervais the director, the film capturing the banality of weeks spent in cars and hotel rooms in much the same way the TV show nailed office life. But the sadness and desperation in his eyes still tug at the heartstrings. The equally talented Jo Hartley – so memorable as Sean’s mum in This is England – also delivers a subtle, nuanced performance as Pauline, though she too is seriously underutilised, and with Brent on such odious form, it’s impossible to understand what she sees in him.Īs for David himself, Ricky Gervais does his usual shtick, combining bravado, awkwardness, pathos, and a fair dose of melancholy, even if that giggle does get overused as proceedings progress. The brilliant Ben Baily Smith offers some support as aspiring rapper Dom, proving to be a decent enough foil for Brent, but his character is woefully underdeveloped, and just when Dom’s journey does become interesting, that storyline is dumped. Seriously, there seems to be a fat joke every 10 minutes, and they're oftentimes more cruel than funny. And the hits keep coming, with Brent making jokes about the Chinese, the disabled, gay people, Native Americans, and the overweight. ![]() There’s mention of David having a nervous breakdown between series and film, but that’s just an excuse to make jokes at the expense of the mentally ill. The Office was very much an ensemble piece, with Gareth, Tim and Dawn playing just as prominent a role as their boss, providing some of the shows biggest laughs, and in the case of that famous love story, its most emotional moments.īut here we pretty much get solo Brent, and it’s exhausting watching the man monologue in mean-spirited fashion. And the members of the band are pretty bland, making their interactions David largely redundant, and their pieces to camera often uninspired. The songs are reasonably funny, but as with all novelty records, the laughs are fleeting. So he takes unpaid leave and sets out on the road, ploughing his savings into what Brent envisions will be a nationwide tour, but which quickly turns into a handful of gigs in the Reading area.Īnd this is where the wheels fall off, both for David, and the movie.īecause watching Brent and his band performing a bunch of terrible songs to empty venues is funny at first, but quickly wears thin. Which basically consists of session musicians whom he pays to play a brand of soft-rock that’s “a bit Bublé, a bit David Essex.” ![]() His co-workers include a bully in the mould of Chris Finch from the TV show, a likable “nutter” who shares Brent’s childish sense of humour, and Pauline, a sweet woman who clearly harbours feelings for David.īut Brent won’t be tied to the tampon trade, the man still dreaming of music stardom as lead singer of a band called Foregone Conclusion. Proceedings kick off in familiar fashion, Brent touring the office and introducing his colleagues via a series of inappropriate jokes. Sadly however, he seems to have regressed, David still single and now an office junior, working as a travelling salesman for a company that sells tampons. The audience was finally, genuinely rooting for him, and things were looking good.īut now, more than a decade on, he's letting the cameras back into his life. And as the series drew to a close that came to the fore, as David stood up to the office bully, charmed a girl, and even cracked a joke that raised genuine laughs. But you suspected that beneath the loathsome grin, grating giggle and excruciating gags, the man had a good heart. Brent was a car crash, mistaking racism, sexism and homophobia for humour, and offending and upsetting those around him on an all-too-regular basis.
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