"David Brent: Life on the Road" was a gamble. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant did an admirable thing when they left their classic sitcom "The Office" at only two seasons and a special. It went out on a high, leaving an indelible impression of a great show in the minds of those that watched it. David Brent, the show's gauche main character, experienced a realistic character arc over the show's twelve or so episodes, becoming less a laughing stock than someone painfully human and relatable.
Therein lies the problem with revisiting this character: if he's more aware, he's less funny. Therefore Gervais has rewound the clock with Brent. He doesn't really seem like the same fully fledged character he was in "The Office". He's more just a collection of funny mannerisms, and this time around, they're really not that funny. He constantly finds himself in social situations made awkward by him always putting his foot in it and not knowing when to shut up. When you see him doing this on stage, it is more annoying than anything.
Furthermore, the songs he plays in the movie aren't funny. His repertoire was hilarious in "The Office", where you could buy him as a talented, but totally misguided, songwriter. Here his music is merely bad. The lyrics aren't funny, they're obvious, and the music is monotonous.
"Cringe comedies" like "The Office" tend to function one way: one person behaves in an offensive and embarrassing way, while another person, or a group of people, watches with offence. Neither side is getting the whole story: the first person doesn't know he's being offensive, and the second person(s) doesn't know he is merely stupid, and not truly racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever.
There is a third group that allows this scenario to function, and that is us, the audience. We have the knowledge the other groups lack that differentiates us from the other two, and that allows us to laugh where the others can't.
"The Office" handled this situation brilliantly.
"David Brent: Life on the Road" does not. The problem is I felt myself as more a member of the second group than the third. When Brent is on stage giving one of his cringe inducing monologues, digging himself deeper and deeper into offensiveness, I felt the way his paltry audience members are supposed to have felt. In "The Office", you wanted him to keep it up because it was funny. In "Life on the Road", you empathise too much with the audience members at these gigs who get up and leave. You want to do the same thing.
No one could forget the moment in "The Office" when Brent finally stood up to Chris Finch, showing that he had become less concerned with being "one of the guys". "Life on the Road" is surprisingly devoid of character arc for David Brent. His personality doesn't really change throughout the whole movie, short of him becoming predictably discouraged. The change, curiously, happens in some of the people around him, who like him despite of his faults.
That the movie ends with Brent back where he started, with little evidence of a renewed perspective, makes you wonder how much longer his supporters - both in the movie and those watching at home - will be prepared to stick with him.
Therein lies the problem with revisiting this character: if he's more aware, he's less funny. Therefore Gervais has rewound the clock with Brent. He doesn't really seem like the same fully fledged character he was in "The Office". He's more just a collection of funny mannerisms, and this time around, they're really not that funny. He constantly finds himself in social situations made awkward by him always putting his foot in it and not knowing when to shut up. When you see him doing this on stage, it is more annoying than anything.
Furthermore, the songs he plays in the movie aren't funny. His repertoire was hilarious in "The Office", where you could buy him as a talented, but totally misguided, songwriter. Here his music is merely bad. The lyrics aren't funny, they're obvious, and the music is monotonous.
"Cringe comedies" like "The Office" tend to function one way: one person behaves in an offensive and embarrassing way, while another person, or a group of people, watches with offence. Neither side is getting the whole story: the first person doesn't know he's being offensive, and the second person(s) doesn't know he is merely stupid, and not truly racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever.
There is a third group that allows this scenario to function, and that is us, the audience. We have the knowledge the other groups lack that differentiates us from the other two, and that allows us to laugh where the others can't.
"The Office" handled this situation brilliantly.
"David Brent: Life on the Road" does not. The problem is I felt myself as more a member of the second group than the third. When Brent is on stage giving one of his cringe inducing monologues, digging himself deeper and deeper into offensiveness, I felt the way his paltry audience members are supposed to have felt. In "The Office", you wanted him to keep it up because it was funny. In "Life on the Road", you empathise too much with the audience members at these gigs who get up and leave. You want to do the same thing.
No one could forget the moment in "The Office" when Brent finally stood up to Chris Finch, showing that he had become less concerned with being "one of the guys". "Life on the Road" is surprisingly devoid of character arc for David Brent. His personality doesn't really change throughout the whole movie, short of him becoming predictably discouraged. The change, curiously, happens in some of the people around him, who like him despite of his faults.
That the movie ends with Brent back where he started, with little evidence of a renewed perspective, makes you wonder how much longer his supporters - both in the movie and those watching at home - will be prepared to stick with him.