I have read great reviews and poor reviews. Ricky Gervais/Brent will always be marmite.
The jury was out the first 20 minutes as it was based in his office, without the characters we care about, it wasn't working for me.
But as soon as he went out on the road and you got to know his band and more about the characters where he worked, I started to enjoy it a lot more. and I really enjoyed Ben Bailey Smith's performance.
Lyrics made me laugh and it was a lot more poignant than I was expecting, he does poignant very well.
I have avoided this as hated the trailer, which I know is no way to judge a film but it had a forced vibe about it. Plus with merchant missing it's pretty clear it won't be as good. His choice to bring him back so not complaining, but he didn't do it with everything in place to make the film as good as possible which is a shame. I will watch it eventually but the clips I have seen don't inspire confidence, I am a great admirer of really well done subtlety.
I think Merchant is the better writer, and knows how to do subtlety and keep characters grounded. Gervais is good at the awkward moments but lays everything on a bit too thick and tries to tell us all how we should be feeling (see Derek), and I think that showed here.
A good example would be in a scene near the end, where the receptionist is saying something like she can 'see through the smiles'. What made Brent such a compelling character is that we all knew he was putting on an act to the world, but this never needed to be spelled out. It's also what made us all happy for him when he was finally himself in the Christmas episodes.
The cast were all one dimensional and far too cruel. This made their sudden turnaround even more inexplicable. There was no 'moment' to explain their change of attitude towards Brent, and it comes across as a bit rushed.
The songs were mostly rubbish, and borderline Flight of the Conchords in that they were trying to be funny this time. The beauty of Freelove Freeway was that you could see that being written and played with a straight face. There's no way anyone would write 'Don't Make Fun of the Disableds' as anything other than a novelty song.
But there were some nice moments, and I liked the whole "Never Give Up" message that Gervais likes to get across. I still don't think he should have been brought back but the character wasn't ruined, which was the main thing for me.
B.I.B. Agree with that. The band went from having to be paid to even have a pint with him to liking him. Just didn't wash. I was also surprised to hear the receptionist stick up for Brent. There was no indication that she felt that way previously. Her facial expressions seemed more along the lines of thinking he was a cringeworthy salesman. Brent's female friend throwing a cup of water on the office bully was OTT.
I think this would have been better as a special rather than a film.
Thankfully it wasn't. It was genuinely funny with a lot of good moments. Gervais keeps things deliberately low key and actually focuses a lot on the songs - which are an odd mix of being musically competent but with deliberately cringeworthy lyrics. You get the strong impression that Gervais has the same 'frustrated rock star' fantasies as his alter-ego. There are a few lulls in the movie, some of the jokes fall flat, but generally it keeps you interested.
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Gervaise was in a band in the early Eighties called Seona Dancing. Their two best known songs were called 'More To Lose' and 'Bitter Heart'.
Theres more info about the band on Wiikipedia and videos on YouTube.
B.I.B. Agree with that. The band went from having to be paid to even have a pint with him to liking him. Just didn't wash. I was also surprised to hear the receptionist stick up for Brent. There was no indication that she felt that way previously. Her facial expressions seemed more along the lines of thinking he was a cringeworthy salesman. Brent's female friend throwing a cup of water on the office bully was OTT.
I think this would have been better as a special rather than a film.
totally agree about the turnaround and the receptionist
He should consider getting someone to direct in the future. It's easy to get carried away with your pet projects when you're the writer/star/producer, etc. I think that's why his projects with Merchant are better than Gervais' solo work, someone is there to rein it in a bit. Merchant would not have green-lighted that ending for this film.
He should consider getting someone to direct in the future. It's easy to get carried away with your pet projects when you're the writer/star/producer, etc. I think that's why his projects with Merchant are better than Gervais' solo work, someone is there to rein it in a bit. Merchant would not have green-lighted that ending for this film.
True. There probably a lot merchant wouldn't have gone with. When something classic is made and an attempt is made to recreate it I just think you need all the ingredients from the original to have a chance,as it's a hard task as it is. It could have been worse though is the only saving grace. I think gervais was showing his ego a bit, thinking he could still make it as good as it was. It's a shame they parted ways, did they fall out or something?
It's hard to know what Gervais really wanted to achieve with this.
It won't make him any money, it won't raise his profile outside the UK, it was an extremely risky prospect professionally (which he only just got away with). I think he just wanted an excuse to tour for a while
The Office worked well as an ensemble piece with Brent as a figure of authority the other characters had to interact with.
Gervais went overboard making Brent downtrodden by having the band shun him. This cut down the possibilities for comedy imo.
Alpha Papa 2 I'd go and see. David Brent 2 - not so much.
Fortunately he went to bed last night with £50m and woke up this morning with £50m so no harm done.
Glad you mentioned Alpha Papa, despite its over the top plot Alpha Papa retained the charm of the sitcom and had the established characters of Michael, Lynn and Sidekick Simon to bounce off Alan. Considering that Martin Freeman is now much bigger than Gervais, I doubt he would have had any interest in being part of Life on the Road
Glad you mentioned Alpha Papa, despite its over the top plot Alpha Papa retained the charm of the sitcom and had the established characters of Michael, Lynn and Sidekick Simon to bounce off Alan. Considering that Martin Freeman is now much bigger than Gervais, I doubt he would have had any interest in being part of Life on the Road
Martin Freeman actually did go back to the Office. :D
Comments
I have read great reviews and poor reviews. Ricky Gervais/Brent will always be marmite.
The jury was out the first 20 minutes as it was based in his office, without the characters we care about, it wasn't working for me.
But as soon as he went out on the road and you got to know his band and more about the characters where he worked, I started to enjoy it a lot more. and I really enjoyed Ben Bailey Smith's performance.
Lyrics made me laugh and it was a lot more poignant than I was expecting, he does poignant very well.
B.I.B. Agree with that. The band went from having to be paid to even have a pint with him to liking him. Just didn't wash. I was also surprised to hear the receptionist stick up for Brent. There was no indication that she felt that way previously. Her facial expressions seemed more along the lines of thinking he was a cringeworthy salesman. Brent's female friend throwing a cup of water on the office bully was OTT.
I think this would have been better as a special rather than a film.
Gervaise was in a band in the early Eighties called Seona Dancing. Their two best known songs were called 'More To Lose' and 'Bitter Heart'.
Theres more info about the band on Wiikipedia and videos on YouTube.
3 dates went on sale at 10am, I was 1500 in the queue at 10am for a 400 seater theatre. Not a Scooby.
totally agree about the turnaround and the receptionist
True. There probably a lot merchant wouldn't have gone with. When something classic is made and an attempt is made to recreate it I just think you need all the ingredients from the original to have a chance,as it's a hard task as it is. It could have been worse though is the only saving grace. I think gervais was showing his ego a bit, thinking he could still make it as good as it was. It's a shame they parted ways, did they fall out or something?
It won't make him any money, it won't raise his profile outside the UK, it was an extremely risky prospect professionally (which he only just got away with). I think he just wanted an excuse to tour for a while
Glad you mentioned Alpha Papa, despite its over the top plot Alpha Papa retained the charm of the sitcom and had the established characters of Michael, Lynn and Sidekick Simon to bounce off Alan. Considering that Martin Freeman is now much bigger than Gervais, I doubt he would have had any interest in being part of Life on the Road
Martin Freeman actually did go back to the Office.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bg8NS6s0fkw