I love Ricky Gervais. LOVE the Office, the podcasts, Extras, the stand up shows. Brilliant. Couldn't watch past Episode 3 of Life's too short or through a whole episode of Derek. Something very obvious when Merchant isn't involved.
I was fearful of this film, I wanted it to be good. I had watched all of the Learn Guitar with David Brent videos on Youtube and even saw the Foregone Conclusion live show at Hammersmith, so I knew a lot of the songs. The songs are well crafted and funny, so it's a perfect formula right?
I feel Gervais tried too hard to go back to the Brent character, it's too tragic, too painful, too much.
He says in all the interviews that it would be odd to have the same characters as in the office, still there after 20 years. But then he DOES have an office and the same characters are there, Finchy, Gareth, Dawn, the love interest (or versions of them)
Don't get me wrong, I did laugh in this film, and it is rewarding, at the end to see the band end up thinking he is 'alright, actually' but it's so contrived. The end to the film feels very rushed. He packs all the classic Gervais things in, the slightly crying heartfelt interview (which he pulled off to perfection in the Extras Christmas special, when he was in Big Brother) but since then he seems to be trying to do that in everything he does.
The film settles into a rhythm once they hit the road, they do a gig in a different location and you see one of the many funny songs performed. There was a scene where he 'picked up' two women after a gig, but he asked them back to his hotel room at a cash point, it all felt over the top desperate, why couldn't he have just me them in the club and then ended up at his hotel room, the jokes that followed would still have worked.
Gervais wanted you to feel sorry for Brent, and he really hammered home this message, this worked in The Office because it was a lot more subtle and over 2 series, in a film, it was very hap-hazard and rushed.
As the title says, this film is everything I expected, unfortunately I didn't expect much after seeing the trailer.
This film COULD have been good!
I was fearful of this film, I wanted it to be good. I had watched all of the Learn Guitar with David Brent videos on Youtube and even saw the Foregone Conclusion live show at Hammersmith, so I knew a lot of the songs. The songs are well crafted and funny, so it's a perfect formula right?
I feel Gervais tried too hard to go back to the Brent character, it's too tragic, too painful, too much.
He says in all the interviews that it would be odd to have the same characters as in the office, still there after 20 years. But then he DOES have an office and the same characters are there, Finchy, Gareth, Dawn, the love interest (or versions of them)
Don't get me wrong, I did laugh in this film, and it is rewarding, at the end to see the band end up thinking he is 'alright, actually' but it's so contrived. The end to the film feels very rushed. He packs all the classic Gervais things in, the slightly crying heartfelt interview (which he pulled off to perfection in the Extras Christmas special, when he was in Big Brother) but since then he seems to be trying to do that in everything he does.
The film settles into a rhythm once they hit the road, they do a gig in a different location and you see one of the many funny songs performed. There was a scene where he 'picked up' two women after a gig, but he asked them back to his hotel room at a cash point, it all felt over the top desperate, why couldn't he have just me them in the club and then ended up at his hotel room, the jokes that followed would still have worked.
Gervais wanted you to feel sorry for Brent, and he really hammered home this message, this worked in The Office because it was a lot more subtle and over 2 series, in a film, it was very hap-hazard and rushed.
As the title says, this film is everything I expected, unfortunately I didn't expect much after seeing the trailer.
This film COULD have been good!