its kind of like how karl isnt as good without ricky and steve. Steve and Ricky balance eachother out and combined they are golden, separate they arent as good.
They balance each other out perfectly. Merchants comedy is a lot more brutal and real. Ricky's is a lot more uplifting and focuses on societal problems instead of individual ones. I do still like the stuff he's done without Merchant, but Hello Ladies was a much funnier show that any of Ricky's, just with a more basic story.
I don't know about that. My memory of the film is definitely hazier than my memory of the series, but in the series he was pretty over the top. Like everyone's got a few stories of colleagues who REMINDED them of Brent at times, but if I knew someone EXACTLY like him, I'd think that they're fucking unhinged.
The moment when the entire band suddenly likes Brent is just absolutely terrible writing. I think the only reason Gervais made this film is to prove what a great writer Steve Merchant is, no other explanation makes sense. With The Office I got the feeling that they'd really slaved over the scripts to make the whole thing as believable as possible, with this film I get the impression that Gervais knocked it out over a weekend then took it to a bunch of movie execs who said "yeah Ricky, that's really great, you're the best". They were right to stop The Office after 2 seasons and an Xmas special, the movie just felt like Gervais shitting on the legacy of that brilliant show for money.
Exactly, I'm all for redemption, and that's something Gervais is normally good at. But the change into "we like him" really came out of nowhere. Rarely bad writing from RG. He hit form again with After Life, though.
Totally agree. Afterlife is the same. Rushed, lazy rubbish. Especially the second series. Also, I noticed how, about a week after announcing he was going to be writing a third series of afterlife, he posts a picture of himself sat there proudly holding the script. I just think he has lost the plot a bit and has nobody around him to tell him he needs to start trying harder. All he listens to is his sycophantic twitter fanbase.
I never thought much of him when he was on the 11 o'clock show, but I didn't mind him. But then with The Office and particularly season two, I thought he was a damn genius. I still think some of his acting in that second season is some of the best I've ever seen. Like the moment after he bombs when they're filming him through the window. It felt so raw and authentic, no doubt he was channeling his own experiences of bombing on stage. But then I feel he was instantly ruined by the success, I haven't really liked anything he's done since, not even Extras though it was definitely very funny at times. And I liked the early Karl Pilkington shows. But man, that season two of The Office was like lightning caught in a bottle.
Funny isn't it, this movie was a self fulfilling prophecy. Man goes to great expense to pursue his passion project, the result is poor quality entertainment and a huge loss of money.
@@mosty85 no not the bad quality but the irony of doing what Brent does in this movie in real life as taotoo2 mentioned. I wanted this movie to be better.
As Frankie Boyle said on Room 101 in front of Diane Morgan "I don't need Ricky Gervais to tell me God doesn't exist, when Derek gets commissioned for 2 series"
Yeah Frankie Boyle comes across as jealous and bitter whenever he bring up Ricky Gervais, I've seen his frankly unfunny stand-up in which he slates Gervais as being less than funny which is quite ironic.
@@voodoochile333 Hmmmm yeah that's the exact point he made, that Gervais wasn't a stand-up comedian...Not really sure how you'd measure that but I enjoy Ricky Gervais stand-up much, much better.
@@voodoochile333 Hardly, the "Animals" show was entirely Novel though I do get how it is relatively niche, Boyle appeals often the the lowest common denominator they're the kind of jokes you might hear in any pub on any high street on a Saturday night, it's traditional stand up (Hence his snobbery about "Real stand-up" ). Also Frankie Boyle since finding fame has increasingly strayed into overtly political content which is never a great idea, it's clear he is promoting an agenda, which is irrelevant and boring in the context of a stand up show.
The thing that annoyed me the most without doubt about Life on the Road was the constant "Heeeeee" at the end of every single sentence, it was like someone doing an extremely incorrect David Brent impression, it got on my nerves very quickly
Indeed. It's incredibly annoying and wears out its welcome within the first minute and a half of the runtime (by which point Gervais has already made that sound 73 times).
Yep. I can only remember him subtly doing that once, possibly twice, in The Office. But they were no where as noticeable or annoying than when he almost constantly did it in this piece of crap. Gervais really is lost without Steven Merchant. He's just too self absorbed to admit it.
I hated that too! His whole thing is off. The mannerisms, the phrases, the way he carried himself. You can't even chalk that up to character development - if anything he's deteriorated.
The problem is that these days we've seen far too much of the "real" Ricky Gervais to the point where we can't see past him to the characters he plays, and he doesn't have a wide acting range
Did he even do that in The Office? David Brent went from a three-dimensional character who was believable and compelling to Ricky Gervais doing a smile and a laugh and a piss-poor, badly-photocopied impression of Brent.
They really Homer Simpson’d him. They made him a massive characature of himself. Brent was brilliant because while he always had the elements of his character from this film they were far more subtle and he was a lot more believable, and characters he interacted with reacted far more realistically rather than immediately telling him to fuck off. I feel with all of Gervais’ works since extras he’s stopped giving the audience any credit whatsoever. What was great about the office was you could tell how the characters felt about what Brent was saying because 1) there’s only one way you can react to a lot of what Brent says, but also 2) their body language and facial reactions. Now he just spells it out for us, the characters literally just tell us and even David exactly what they think. The subtlety is just not there and it makes it so unrealistic which is probably the worst thing you can say about a mockumentary. Like What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary about vampires but it still feels realistic within that world because the interactions are relatable. I still think there are funny bits in the film because even a characture of Brent is still funny sometimes and because Ricky is funny, just the writing is bad.
The entire premise of the movie is a bad idea. David Brent resonated with people because he was a parody of lame ageing middle-managers who think they're cool and popular "bosses". People recognised aspects of that character from their own real-life experiences, and a big part of the comedy comes from the office environment where in the name of professionalism you *have* to tolerate these kinds of awful people. Nobody wants to see that character touring as part of a rock band; it's just weird, not an experience most can relate to and not a setting where Brent's personality creates good comedy opportunities.
For me, in his later work, Ricky breaks the big rule of story writing- show don't tell. In the Office, Brent's employees didn't flat out say they hated him to camera. You could see their contempt or embarrassment in their reactions. That was what set the tone of the show. This film felt way too broad. Everything was much less subtle. It felt like the Office for idiots.
"the Office for idiots" that's such a good way to put it. I thought it felt like Office fan fiction, it's honestly the quality I'd expecting some random fan on the internet to write. I always thought "When The Whistle Blows" in Extras was a bit like an alternate history of how shit The Office could have been, but this is probably a better example. It's like Gervais' "It's a Wonderful Life" moment for if he didn't have Steve Merchent.
@@mtlewis973 Sort of. I'm American and that's kind of what I was thinking. It's not necessarily that everyone here is just an idiot. I don't feel like that's fair or helpful. I will say that American productions treat the audience like idiots, though. You can tell an American production most of the time, particularly a comedy, because things lack subtlety, actors are loud and over the top and we rarely allow moments to be quiet and awkward. We never get to just sit in the uncomfortableness the way so many British shows do. While I'm not a big fan of The Office UK or U.S., I can see certain things that appeal to audiences in both. I just think that British shows tend to give audiences more credit, so I have more respect for the original The Office than for the U.S. version.
I totally agree with all of this. Plus some additional thoughts: 1. Why do the band seem constantly surprised by how terrible these songs are? Surely they've spent some time rehearsing this stuff? It's the same with the Equality Street video. Dom seems surprised by the things happening in the video, even though they're clearly lip-syncing to a song they've already recorded. The Office never did comedy which was external to the reality of the situation. 2. Similarly, why is the character of David Brent writing comedy songs? Surely he would be writing the best songs he possibly could, and we laugh at how unintentionally bad they are. But some of these seem like intentionally funny songs. See also, his song about the Gypsey woman. It's good and well-observed until the comedy breaks the reality of the situation. 3. Why do the students book him for a Crap Night, and then seem appalled and uncomfortable by how crap he is? They should be loving it, it's exactly what they were intending surely. The film misses a MASSIVE trick with this last point - it could've gone in a much more interesting direction if David actually reached some modicum of success, but for being crap. He achieves a measure of what he wants, but only because people are laughing at him. Instead, it's yet more of the same, and it pootles along to his totally unearned redemption.
Also, judging by how the band react to each unfolding horror, he seems to play one song per gig, and a different song every night. Foregone Conclusion are medicore at best. It's baffling and frustrating that their music seems to turn everyone into humourless zombies. Someone would at least be laughing at him? Someone would at least be enjoying the music of four professional session musicians?
Such a relief to watch so many of my own thoughts on 'life on the road' being said by someone else. I remember coming out of the cinema feeling cheated and thinking this is just the 'comic relief' sketch stretched out over ninety minutes. The inexplicably horrible band, the black rapper awkwardness, the 'new' office which is just a reworked old office ...all so unsatisfying and pointless. Like other terrible sequels, like highlander II, I will just try and pretend this never happened and think of 'the office' as it was - over. Done. Complete. Finished
The stuff with the band being mean to him doesn't work because they're just *so* rude. David Brent is annoying, but The Office was all about social niceties and the pressure it takes to make people 'snap' in a realistic way. Nobody would ever be that openly unpleasant to someone just for being irritating.
What I find funny about how Gervais' career has progressed is that the kind of fans that he has now (the ones who adore the likes of Derek and After life) actually resemble the ones that his character Andy Millman is so contemptuous towards in Extras! (ie the fans of 'when the whistle blows).
@@thefonzkiss I'm a massive fan on the office and extras but I also adore Derek as a series I think it's more about the storytelling than the comedy for the most part and even though it's called Derek I wouldn't say Ricky's character is the 'main' character it's more about the supporting roles in that show
A fair review. A major problem with this is the songs. Brent's songs in The Office were hilariously bad, but they still sounded like genuine songs and you could see how a character like David Brent might see them as works of genius. The songs in Life on the road are so obviously comedy songs that I just can't buy even David Brent seeing them as good songs. The character in this film should not have been David Brent. I might be off base here but I sense even during The Office, Merchant and Gervais saw Brent slightly differently. I feel like Merchant saw him as not only a socially awkward loser but also quite a bad person. I always got the impression that Gervais saw Brent as a nice guy who while desperate for fame and socially awkward was deep down a nice bloke. I think what we see in Life on the road is Gervais's vision of the character in it's purest form and the film suffers for that.
I totally agree with you on the songs. The Office performances had a logic to them, David was a competent guitar player and tried really hard to write lyrics he thought were cool. Aiming but missing is why he's funny. Since then though, his songs have deviations and jokes in them, like in Lady Gypsy. The music video has him breaking and looking to camera as if to say "what is going on", but he wrote it and recorded it. He's a Weird Al or a Tenacious D at this point. I've always felt like Merch was the one keeping an eye on the authenticity and reality of Brent.
I think the conflict that you think is ricky and Steve having different views on Brent is actually just David trying to act more like Chris finch but in fact he’s not a bad person (like finch) so he feels uncomfortable.
@@FreddieElsom Absolutely. And the bit in the Equality Street video where Dom is about to start rapping, but David bursts in in front of him. Surely they've rehearsed the song? Surely they've already recorded it and are lip syncing? It should be funny because it's earnest but crap, not because there are jokes in it.
I see where you're coming from, Danny. Gervais often says that Brent isn't a bad bloke at all, he just confuses popularity with respect. But i don't think that's quite right. Brent didn't just want respect. He wanted adulation. That's very different. He is a narcissist. And to get his needs met he was prepared to be quite horrible to people at times. His treatment of the disabled woman. Not caring about redundancies. Yes, he was insecure and needy, and you felt for him because of that, and even rooted for him at times. But he wasn't a nice guy. Yet increasingly Ricky tries to portray him like he was to seemingly try to show how much heart he has (bit Brent-ish, ironically!) as a writer. It's incongruent. Bit like the film.
@John Gilmore It has a good premise, a talented cast, and some funny moments, but it needs someone to tell Gervais to tone down the sermonizing and get off his various hobby horses.
Great analysis. This movie feels like Gervais saw the Alan Partridge movie and decide Brent could do something similar [the love interest here reminds me of Angela from that movie] but Partridge is a character that can change setting and the hostage situation gave the film momentum. The radio station, the photo session and bringing the women back to the hotel all felt like sketches thought up on the day of filming to pad it out. I liked Doc Brown in the movie but the rest of the supporting cast are forgettable. Merchant's fighting with my family, while nothing special, was a lot better written and directed than this.
Yes! Alan is an active character, David is a passive character. Alan does things, David reacts to things. David's set up the tour, and he tries to pull a couple of women, but other than that he does absolutely nothing outside what's already been set up - the film is just him being increasingly put upon.
I loved The Office UK, it was the greatest show I had ever seen. It was a complex, multifaceted social commentary of British life and archetypes AND the jokes were well considered and timed. I thought Gervais was a genius.... until I watched this movie in 2016. Then, I began to open my eyes to how crucial Stephen Merchant is to essentially everything involved in his projects - and to take him out, exposes gaping flaws in Gervais' writing and direction. Thinking of it, almost every single Gervais project without the help of Merchant is basic, dull, repetitive and poor. Derek, Special Correspondents, Life on The Road. Gervais was working well below his level on all of those. It would take more careful examination - was Merchant the genius behind it all? Or did Merchant act as a wall which Gervais used to bounce his best ideas off? One thing is certain, there will never be anything created by either of them half as good as The Office while they are apart.
I’m so glad I found this channel- I’m a massive peep show/office/xfm fan. Your analysis of On the road is great- I really disliked the film and a lot of the characters in it. The cinematography was way off compared to the office. So many of the shots are so un-documentary like. You constantly get cuts to shots which should show in theory the ‘camera crew’ from the previous shot- this is something which happened a lot in Life’s too short as well. It really takes you out of the experience. They also used more well known actors which takes you out of the realism of the show- something which both Merchant and Gervais were really careful about when they wrote the office. I also never understood why so many people hate Brent in the film, particularly the band manager. Brent’s mannerisms also seem to have primarily boiled down to ‘that laugh’ and being completely socially unaware. I think not having Stephen Merchant write was a huge mistake, and Ricky’s comedy seems to have changed a lot since the office and it doesn’t really fit anymore. The Microsoft Values sketches were a really great display of Brent’s character; a Brent like that in a film would have been great.
I agree with every point you made! I think the cause of the issues with this film, and nearly everything Ricky has done in a long time, is that Steve isn't with him anymore. Steve himself has made some absolute rubbish solo stuff too, but together they really balance out each others weaknesses and it made for a great writing and directing duo. I have no source for this, but from listening to the XFM shows on repeat for the past 5-6 years, I always got he the impression Steve 'got' the film making side better than Ricky did. I don't think as many big mistakes with the shots, the casting, etc, like you mentioned, would've happened with him on board. (Although similar shots that would in theory show the camera crew do happen in The Office too, the staff training episode has quite a few of them just off the top of my head). I've always somewhat thought that Ricky wanted to make this film to spite Steve in a way, and to prove that he didn't need him to make David Brent be a successful and popular character again, yet he ironically did the exact opposite and proved that despite being the face of David, it's not him that makes Brent work, and the character simply isn't the same without Steve (who originally came up with him as the Seedy Boss, lest we forget).
Andrew love this video, this film sucks so hard. The Office is one of the best things ever on TV, but wasn’t ‘Seedy Boss’ a Gervais character they used for a short film Merchant had to make for his internship at the BBC?
Also never understood why these guys were ABSOLUTE JACKASSES to Brent! That's really not realistic, especially because THEY KNOW THEY'RE BEING FILMED FOR A FRICKING DOCUMENTARY. Why exactly did Ricky and Stephen go their separate ways? Are they working on anything else together? I do like after life, though. I dunno, it has 'something' at least.
Completely agree with everything you've said. I try not to consider this as part of the David Brent cannon. Much better just to pretend it finished after the Christmas party in Slough. My biggest irritation was always the fact that suddenly ten minutes from the end of the film, everyone suddenly says "huh, I guess he's alright actually". Seems like Ricky just wanted to show off some music that he'd written, so he wrote in film in which he could do that, under the guise of it being ironic, because Brent was performing it.
When RG was asked why the original Office was only 2 short seasons he responded (paraphrasing) that he didn't want it to get stale, and yet he seemed to contradict that idea by creating Life on the Road.
I don't think it would be as bad if the camerawork wasn't so boring and the colour grading looking like a either a hospital or what a hospital looks like after a lethal dose of ketamine
I'd be inclined to believe he was offered some money to do it, or at least that he needed money... because I mean, the guy kept it away from the branding of 'The Office' included only David Brent and basically kept it as far away as possible from being a proper follow-up, intentional or not at least it was just the one character, so disassociating this movie from the show isn't hard at all.
Done it to plenty of UK shows [Ab Fab for example which ended originally in 1996 but keeps being revived to less and less success, including a film released the same year as this].
I think a more interesting movie would've been David hiring a film crew himself to document the tour. It would've raised the stakes and desperation having him really try to control how he was being represented and lead to more of those authentic documentary moments that make The Office great. This is just a comedy movie that sorta looks like a documentary, to me.
Agreed. In canon, it makes absolutely no sense for a documentary team to want to go back to an irrelevant minor celebrity who hasn't been relevant since the mid 2000's. We know Brent didn't become a big star.
@@LukasOfTheLight When did he do it in The Office? I thought it was invented for this movie, which is another reason that the character is totally different in this movie than in The Office.
The band member Dan appeared in Peep Show S8E03 - he is the customer in Baths Bathrooms and Fittings who wants modern yet traditional, two very disparate styles.
This is great analysis of the film. It was meant to be a comedy, but I went away from it feeling sad for the David Brent character as someone vulnerable who was going through a mid-life crisis and trying to have one last hurrah, whilst being unfairly ignored and isolated by the majority of people in the film. He is an annoying and unaware character but he didn't deserve to be ostracized like he was. In the office, he was irritating but he was able to converse with others on some level. In this film, he was a nervous wreck and lacked any form of subtlety in his actions.
Yep, it’s depressing, but not in a way that’s successfully balanced out with sharp humour. Just a jarring and unearned set of a redemption twists at the end.
One of the lowest points of this film has to be the talking head segment where the band members say something like 'he's not racist, he just doesn't get it'. Less is more sometimes. The viewers can see that for themselves. In that scene in The office where Brent accidentally headbutts the secretary he's hired, imagine if we'd cut to a talking head bit with Tim or Dawn saying 'He didn't mean to headbutt her, he's just so clumsy and awkward with women'. There's no attempt to make us care about the side characters here. In The Office, I can barely off the top of my head recall a single talking head segment where a character other than David Brent talks about David Brent (possibly one with Gareth at the end of series one?). In this film pretty much every talking head segment is all about Brent. I know he is even more central to this plot than he was in The Office, but it's too much.
Standards have slipped for Ricky over the past few years by the looks of it. He needs to go back to co-writing. Also, I agree with most of your critique. That ending, where the band just suddently start to like Brent, is ridiculous, and strikes me as something that he wrote in a rush. If only he had someone to help him properly develop his scripts. Derek and After Life suffer from the same, dare I say it, amateurish writing, in which the emotional moments feel completely false and jarring.
Really good analysis, that. I agree that Ricky Gervais misjudged how much people actually like David Brent -- just like Alan Partridge, he's endearing in spite of being so awful, so watching a whole film of stuck-up wankers being horrible to him was actually quite unpleasant and uncomfortable. He's someone we're actually rooting for (which is at least partly why the Christmas special was such a high point of The Office). Maybe Gervais eventually remembered that, hence the improbable and cack-handed change of attitude from Dan, but that was too little too late for this film. To be honest, I spent most of the film hoping that tour bus would accidentally drive off a cliff or something. It was set up so perfectly for something like that :)
I know from working as a musician that it’s part of the job to be cool with whoever you work with, especially if you’re backing a featured artist’. Those session guys would laugh behind his back irl but if this film had more bearing in reality they’d tolerate the vanity project nature of it all with a bit more low key humility and most of all professionalism.
Finally someone has made a vid on how Gervais has strayed from the path of good writing. Gervais is lost without Merchant , he is off the rails and Merchant clearly knew how to reign him in. I really would like to know what happened to their relationship but I can guess that it was Rickys ego that meant Merchant just couldn’t work with him anymore. Rickys work since extras (Life’s too short had some good scenes ) has been appalling in my opinion where every character sounds like Gervais does when being interviewed with far too many of his world views forced in at every opportunity. The original XFM shows are still available and are incredibly popular for a specific reason - pre incredible fame and arrogance Sorry for rambling but I’ve been waiting for someone to make an analysis of this film for a long time ! Great work !
www.digitalspy.com/tv/a864690/stephen-merchant-ricky-gervais-oxford-union/ Merchant went on to explain in greater detail how their styles differ, noting: "[Ricky] wants to perform in stuff he does, and I'm quite happy for neither of us to perform and to let other people perform... it's not quite something that he's interested in. "A lot of Ricky's humour is about him putting it across, which is why he's so good at stand-up. Also, he likes to get stuff done. He's impatient. Whereas I'll happily spend months, years, grinding it out."
So it's pretty much confirming what many people said in these comments: Gervais' writing comes across as shoddy and would have needed some revisions. I think your point about his arrogance is also in that carefully worded quote. Coming to think of it, there aren't all that many writers who only write for themselves. IMO Gervais' acting is great in The Office and Extras, and decent in his other projects, but I don't think he's a very versatile actor and some of his projects (Derek in particular) could have benefited from casting someone else.
@@WillowJordan1979 definitely especially for Derek the show was okay and had karl pinkerton for a big chunk of it, but it didn't have to have ricky as the main man
@@jupitorious7925 Nah, that's just wrong. You might not have liked it, but calling him talentless is just incorrect. The show made countless viewers cry their hearts out. That's not talentless.
The ending is the exact same as in the (equally poor) "Special Correspondents". Ricky walking off camera, talking to a woman. In this case, a woman he previously ignored, and I agree it's weird that he didn't even remember she existed. I suppose the joke is that Pauline is so plain and timid that she doesn't really register as a romantic interest or even a friend, but there's something very off character about that. Brent has always been nice to people who respect/admire him, he drinks that stuff up, he would be pleased with Pauline's interest and milk it.
The David Brent in the film is like a totally different person to the one in tbe TV series. It's as if Gervais forgot how to play the role. Brent never did an irritating, constant giggle for one thing!
It blows my mind when you see people on Twitter replying to videos of his poorer projects, saying how amazing they are. The biggest insult I can give to this movie is that I can't remember anything from it. It was dire.
A theory as to why none of the Office characters appear in this movie, as in a canon theory: the documentary crew tried contacting some (those they could get hold of) but none of them were interested. Off the top of my head, the only character I think David Brent would have stayed in contact with for much longer after The Office would maybe be Gareth, though I'm guessing that Gareth would've moved on from Wernham & Hogg and eventually got a better management job elsewhere, and stopped replying to David's messages about four years ago.
You could tell he never respected Gareth (the constant assistant regional manager think mildly irritated Brent, but he was too nice to say "You're not, you're just my lackey") but he actually liked Tim, I think he would have made the effort to stay in contact with Tim
@@drexlspivey5828 True, but I'd imagine that eventually Tim would get bored of David, especially if he's moved on from Wernham Hogg and is happily married etc. So David would "fall back" on trying to be pals with Gareth who himself would be too interested in his career to really take much interest in David. I'm probably reading way too much into this hahaha
@@MrWillyMrBrightside I think Tim was always bored of David, I should rephrase what I meant, Tim and David wouldn't have become close buddies, but David would have TRIED to stay in contact with Tim
@@drexlspivey5828 Yes I think you're spot on there. David was always a very lonely person. If he had gone to uni, he'd be the one to still hang out at the SU bar five years after graduating
Even by the end of Series 2 Gareth had lost all respect for Brent and in the Christmas special his interactions when Brent arrives are full of back handed insults ['Always nice to see you...bit disruptive...' Maybe you should call ahead' etc.] so I think he'd cut him off quickly. I agree Tim probably wouldn't stay in touch either [I suspect he only agreed to the drink just to end the embarrassing scene in part 2 of the special]. I agree in universe that is probably why no one from the Office would be in this. No one really seemed to care when Brent was fired [as his boasts of a 'mutiny' at his departure is completely hollow] and they would have moved on...unlike Brent who's living in the past.
I loved the film, as a failed musician I felt the pain of a lot of these depicted gigs before. And I live near reading so a lot of it is probably funnier to me.
@@hotfroganimations keeo doing your thing. Don't chase the fame, just enjoy playing and people will come. You meter know who's in which room in regards to that too!
Im surprised you didn't draw a parallel between David being made to drive behind the tour bus and Jez getting the bus when Hans and the band take the van. That scene seems heavily Peep Show inspired!
Ricky Gervais isn't funny without Stephen Merchant. After Life is cliched, heart-string dross, Derek is terrible, he spends most of his time now complaining that kids don't like his jokes so it was inevitable that the Brent movie would be a piece of trash.
absolutely agree. After Life was appaulling overall with perhaps 2% being anywhere interesting, comical or insightful. It was predicable and dull, quite frankly without the legacy of The Office, this would've flopped like it should've done. Merchant is indeed a far superior writer in my opinion. Ricky on his own in a tv / film context, doesn't work. Never has, and he proves it time and time again.
Spot on. I like Gervais the man, but all of his output post-Extras has been substandard and schmaltzy, without really earning the emotion he effing SHOVELS onto the viewer.
band throughout movie: I hate Brent band at the end even though David and Them remain unchanged : I like Brent Merchant's exclusion might be why David's the only character with funny lines- well, lines intended as funny, the rest are just slightly irritated by him and not even in a comical way...and no more likable. I do think Ricky is ultimately a good writer/actor, The Office could never work otherwise (I know he didn't do it alone but he was clearly important) his denial this is an office movie feels kind of futile, it's disappointing whether viewed as a followup or not (but obviously, it absolutely is a follow up)
The central problem with it is it doesnt adhere to " less is more." There is far too much of Brent in it. The Office explored other characters, this was all Brent and it over shoots.
I completely agree with your opinions here and those echoed below. I think there are many people like me, for whom Gervais is a comedy hero, so it pains me to say that almost all the stuff he's done on his own has just not been very good. Life's Too Short, Special Correspondents, Afterlife, this film....all just not funny or particularly well made. It seems crazy to say considering how good Extras and The Office were.
As a hardcore Office fan, those first 10 minutes killed me. I couldnt do it to myself to watch the rest. Thanks for summarising and glad to find i wasnt the only one deeply insulted or annoyed by it. They shouldnt have even attempted to make the film without Merchant.
I love the Office to death, I've watched it about 100 times and never get tired of it. However, even I didn't bother with this movie. I could tell it was going to be a disappointment. I just knew it wouldn't live up to the show from all the clips and promotional stuff I saw. Once Ricky knows what he's doing, he become too self-aware. It's the problem with almost all comedy characters. They lean too heavily into their shtick and it ruins the illusion. I honestly feel as though Stephen Merchant is a huge reason why the Office was so good. And I don't believe Ricky has ever made a show anywhere near as good as he has when Stephen was co producing with him. Clearly he understands story and how to create believable characters and scenarios. All too often in Ricky's solo pursuits have I seen characters deliver disalogue that I know would have never flown has Stephen been involved. It all became a bit too obvious that his shows are just a vehicle for him to deliver his thoughts and opinions on things in liife. Don't get me wrong, I think he's hillarious as a comedy person, but as a show producer he's not come close to being involved with a show as good as the Office or even Extras. The comedy in Derek, Afterlife, Life on the Road (I think I'm missing one more) has all been a bit patronising and simple for me.
I never believed I was watching something supposedly shot by a documentary crew, there's way too many camera angle changes in each scene, or David spontaneously walks into a room and there's already a camera inside ready to film him...
I think when he shoots the woman in the face with the t-shirt cannon is the best example of this. We should see the camera man on stage filming the woman when they're filming Ricky and vice versa.
I watched this the other day - and i was praying for a brent epiphany where he would realise he is better sitting back as a “manager” and letting the band + rapper perform - and he kinda made it but it also humbled him - but no we got the full gervais here
Good video... you are so right about the last 10 mins makes no sense. Its like opposite of show dont tell.. suddenly all the characters telling us they "like" him with no reasoning apart from feeling sorry for him. Wtf lol
Thanks for making this video. I caught the film on cable one day and found it quite unsettling and disconcerting, so your review puts the whole thing into perspective. Having said that, the movie didn't bore me, I had no trouble sticking till the end. And I did have a few genuine laugh out loud moments, but it did leave me confused.
This movie sucked because: 1) The entire film is "punching down" at Brent, whereas The Office was mostly "punching up" at him. 2) There aren't any interesting supporting characters. The Office had Gareth, Tim, Dawn, Chris Finch, Big Keith, Neil, etc. etc. 3) The character arc is mostly a re-hash of the Christmas special.
Agreed especially with point 3. The fact that so much of this is repeating old ground from that special [Brent finds fame is not all it's cracked up to be and gets a girlfriend at the end] just make the film even more pointless and redundant.
Really glad someone was able to put all my thoughts into words. The films shocking and some of the issues reoccur in Afterlife (the recycling of old material etc)
What I find really unbelievable is the way that Gervais uses the same actors to play parts in different shows i.e Afterlife prostitute and the date woman here, Pauline's actress plays a part in Afterlife too. I understand that the initial premise of The Office needed actors to be non-entities so that the office environment was realistic. Exactly, the opposite is true here, recycling the same actors makes the various universes seem unrealistic.
Graham Roberts yeah it’s been going on since cemetery junction. Gervaise is just incredibly lazy his writing is sloppy, his locations are bland. His subtly is lacking and he casts people he’s worked with before because he is safe. Loads of Derek have been recast and the “arsehole” who works in the office in Life On The Road (LOTR) pops up in series 2. I was so disappointed in this as it really forgets how to look like a documentary. It’s pace is all over the place and it doesn’t really do anything. It wasn’t needed nor wanted. The office ends perfectly and if you’re going to do a Brent movie it would have been nicer to see him as a move developed character that has learnt to stick up for himself instead it just retcons the special and goes for an exaggerated version of Brent. Just shite!
Absolutely brilliant video, I always felt exactly the same way, both times I saw it but none of my office loving mates have seen it so could never discuss with them, so glad I'm not the only one. Particularly the sudden change of attitude from the sound engineer. It's so annoying because the office specials tied everything up so perfectly and this undid it all, for Brent's character anyway.
Spot on. The movie was so disappointing but that was to be expected - no Merchant, and none of the other characters that we loved in the show. Also, his laugh... So annoying.
I quite liked this film, but I totally agree when it comes to the band members. I get that they're meant to be characters that don't gel with Brent as a person but they just seem unnecessarily cruel. The redemption and reconciliation seems fake because there was too much bad blood to roll back on.
Good analysis, Andrew. I was so pleased to see a character as good as David Brent come back. Such a classic character, I didn't want Brent confined just to the history of The Office. David Brent for Ricky Gervais is the equivalent of Alan Partridge for Steve Coogan. However, it was disappointing for all the reasons you gave. I felt underwhelmed in a similar way I felt underwhelmed by Alph Papa...
The worst thing about the film wasn't even all this. There's a mawkish message tacked on to the end of it, which is basically "you'll be happier if you give up your dreams; the only reason to have a dream is to want to be liked and people might like you if you just carry on working at the office anyway".
The 'having a nervous breakdown but denying it' aspect of David Brent seems directly lifted from Alan Partridge to me, as does a lot of his more nuanced aspects. An obscenely overrated character imo but still pretty enjoyable
If you can bear to sit through them, I'd love to hear your reviews of Derek and *shudder* After Life. After watching this, I imagine you'd have similar responses to me but I very much enjoy your fair, concise and thorough analysis. Though, I'm surprised the songs don't get more flack in this video. I mean yeah, I agree they're fine. Meh. Etc. But the lack of subtlety is just unbearable for me. There's no way anyone could write these songs and think that they were good - unlike Freelove Freeway and the other snippets of songs from The Office, which are totally believable and only subtly shit and cringe worthy. You still totally buy that Brent would write them and think they were great. These are just comedy songs. With ridiculous lyrics. (With the ever so slight, and very generous, exception of 'Ooh La La' which is okay) I think the songs were the worst bit of this film for me. Anyway, thanks for great vids! Keep going
@John Gilmore I guess the dialogue. It's just very lazy and nothing like how anyone actually talks. Also the fact that the main character is only really redeemable coz everyone.... says he is? It's just lazy storytelling. Like, Gervais only knows how to write in a talking head style, but without any of the honesty + subtlety of the Office. Just having characters just... say exactly what you're supposed to be taking from the story at that point. "I see through it" "he's such a good person". Like, how?? Show us?? Also that line about how women just naturally want to take care of people. Like, ugh, no dude! Work on yourself! People don't owe you forgiveness or tolerance. I dunno - I'm not explaining it as well as Andrew would, haha! I just really fkin thought it was terrible. At least Derek s1 had Karl. Who was a little diamond
@John Gilmore for me it's that everyone is written like an over-the-top moron and he's always the smartest guy in the room. The first episode of season 2 relied on a dreaded trope right out of the gate: the foul mouthed old lady. That's a personal pet peeve and it's just lazy comedy. And here's an idea. If youre so miserable maybe do something meaningful with your life rather than just rolling your eyes at local oddballs at your phony newspaper job
Was total garbage. Just like everything the guy has done after Life’s Too Short. He’s nothing without Merchant to keep him on track and put some heart and soul into his writing.
Yes another problem with the film is nearly everyone is unjustifiably horrible to David and then secondly David seems to have become unbearably manic, childish and naive, so we have characters we don't like and aren't sympathetic or interesting or well written.
i enjoyed it, but i guess on a like meta level, like how david brent relates to ricky gervais. i also didn't mind the guy who paid for the snows arc. like the way i saw it the band and him thought david brent was a stupid jerk, and they'll try to make as much money off him as possible because he 'deserves' it, and it just got to the point where he felt like a bully.
Brilliant review, I did enjoy the film probably on a superficial level as it was good to see the further adventures of David Brent, I'm not sure how my brain works I didn't even register the non appearance of any of the other Office characters or the glaring inconsistencies in the film, it also shows our imagination takes over I didn't notice how when (I forget his name) became friendly at the end and now sorry for David Brent what he'd been like earlier on in the film, I guess it happens in real life sometimes though, sometimes people have resentment towards each other and hate what they're doing together then they soften and become more sentimental and alright about it afterwards, probably because when we have to do something to put effort into it we are up against it and then later on we can reflect back on what was actually good about it, that's about all I can get from the way this film ended. The two women he met, it should have been at the show as the only two fans of his music, then he reacts by over compensating to thank them for it and then the awkward hotel scenes we saw would have worked fine. Also the band characters would have been better portrayed as not just totally disparaging of him but also a little sorry for him all the way through, with Brent in denial of that, instead it was just contempt. When you mentioned how strange it was for the rock & metal crowd to suddenly be bringing the house down about Dom's rap, if it had had the subtlety of "The Office" instead it might have worked like this, that the crowd watching Dom also had a lacklustre response to his rap and he initially thought he had blown it with the A&R label guy, the camera would then show Brent looking a bit too pleased and relieved about that but trying to hide it, but then show the label guy take Dom aside and offer him a meeting and say he was really impressed with that song even if everybody else wasn't, then show Brent's disappointed reaction to that that Dom had done OK after all but there's nothing at all in that for Brent, that's more "The Office" territory in handling it would you think:? Anyway great review that got me thinking quite a lot about the film that I hadn't thought before! I actually just enjoyed it without realising all these flaws.
It made it clear what the unsung hero Stephen Merchant brought to the table. Saying that, I still enjoyed it! Not a perfect movie by all means, but appreciated the sentiments that Gervais tried to get across.
Sorry Andrew I’m a new subscriber and I’ve literally binged all your videos in a day I think you’re brilliant and I love your content!!! And as a lover or Mark Corrigan I hope you’ll appreciate my nazi like approach to grammar when I say you ALWAYS say ‘irriguardless’ please just say regardless in future or else cheers
He also said "disinterested" when he meant "uninterested"- "disinterested" means neutral and a fair judge, not lacking interest. David Mitchell made this exact point on Would I Lie To You.
I’ve been watching a few of your Ricky gervais videos again after the afterlife video you made and was just wondering if you’d do a video on his Netflix film special correspondents? It’s got a similar ending to this and afterlife of him just walking off with a girl who has a bit of a crush on him for some reason
I found this film so hard to watch. I hated the band and the way they were to David. But overall I really enjoyed the movie and the sound track is great. I actually had the same feelings when watching the Office back in the day. My only issue with the movie was the ending. I would have loved it if the ending had been this. Davids Christmas song is the christmas number 1.
I find the office rewatchable to the point it never gets boring, life on the road is a hard watch for some reason. I own it on dvd though just because Ricky Gervais is a legend.
Mate, this is sick. Just found your channel and looking forward to the Peep show stuff. The ending of this film infuriated me- almost all Gervais' stuff now is weird and unsubtle. He definitely needed Merchant. Also love your being irked at the crowd creaming themselves over some inoffensive mild-rap which I dont even think had any swears!
8:50 you got this part abit wrong to be honest. When ricky say " she said you had a mental breakdown" he's just joking. He's not actually heard this from anyone he's just trying to join in on the banter.
Imagine if in the American Office, out of nowhere, Stanley of all people ended up defending Michael, unironically claiming he’s the best boss ever and beating up everyone that offended him.
![[UNCUT]"ทนายตั้ม" แฉยับ! ความลับสวรรค์ ใครคือ "บิ๊กเทวดา" ของบอสพอล l คนดังนั่งเคลียร์ l 15 ต.ค. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ru9fpSaUwdA/mqdefault.jpg)
It just made it so apparent how crucial Stephen Merchant was in the writing of the office.
its kind of like how karl isnt as good without ricky and steve. Steve and Ricky balance eachother out and combined they are golden, separate they arent as good.
@@Millylerks Agreed. Karl's show
"Sick of it" would benefit with writing input from Ricky and Stephen.
@@Millylerks well isn't afterlife just ricky and that's unbelievable
@@crazycougar9344 It's cheap and lazy
They balance each other out perfectly.
Merchants comedy is a lot more brutal and real.
Ricky's is a lot more uplifting and focuses on societal problems instead of individual ones.
I do still like the stuff he's done without Merchant, but Hello Ladies was a much funnier show that any of Ricky's, just with a more basic story.
David Brent went from awkward but good natured in the series to genuinely seeming like he had special needs in parts of the movie
i'd argue he's more messed up and vulnerable now though
Let’s say that the Office comic relief and this movie are non-canon. But, I’d like to keep Brent’s cameo in The Office US show canon.
It feels like yet another example of "flanderisation"
He was training for derek
I don't know about that. My memory of the film is definitely hazier than my memory of the series, but in the series he was pretty over the top. Like everyone's got a few stories of colleagues who REMINDED them of Brent at times, but if I knew someone EXACTLY like him, I'd think that they're fucking unhinged.
Stephen Merchant is the Larry David to Ricky Gervais' Jerry Seinfeld.
The moment when the entire band suddenly likes Brent is just absolutely terrible writing. I think the only reason Gervais made this film is to prove what a great writer Steve Merchant is, no other explanation makes sense. With The Office I got the feeling that they'd really slaved over the scripts to make the whole thing as believable as possible, with this film I get the impression that Gervais knocked it out over a weekend then took it to a bunch of movie execs who said "yeah Ricky, that's really great, you're the best". They were right to stop The Office after 2 seasons and an Xmas special, the movie just felt like Gervais shitting on the legacy of that brilliant show for money.
Exactly, I'm all for redemption, and that's something Gervais is normally good at. But the change into "we like him" really came out of nowhere. Rarely bad writing from RG. He hit form again with After Life, though.
David Stevenson I agree re after life, whilst Derek was clumsy.
Pity I can't unsee this film, it spoils the memory of Brent....
Totally agree. Afterlife is the same. Rushed, lazy rubbish. Especially the second series. Also, I noticed how, about a week after announcing he was going to be writing a third series of afterlife, he posts a picture of himself sat there proudly holding the script. I just think he has lost the plot a bit and has nobody around him to tell him he needs to start trying harder. All he listens to is his sycophantic twitter fanbase.
I never thought much of him when he was on the 11 o'clock show, but I didn't mind him. But then with The Office and particularly season two, I thought he was a damn genius. I still think some of his acting in that second season is some of the best I've ever seen. Like the moment after he bombs when they're filming him through the window. It felt so raw and authentic, no doubt he was channeling his own experiences of bombing on stage. But then I feel he was instantly ruined by the success, I haven't really liked anything he's done since, not even Extras though it was definitely very funny at times. And I liked the early Karl Pilkington shows. But man, that season two of The Office was like lightning caught in a bottle.
Funny isn't it, this movie was a self fulfilling prophecy. Man goes to great expense to pursue his passion project, the result is poor quality entertainment and a huge loss of money.
And then they went on tour in real life - the irony is off the scale.
I think he did it intentionally
@@thecuriousgamingwarlock5026 you think he intentionally made it poor quality?
@@mosty85 no not the bad quality but the irony of doing what Brent does in this movie in real life as taotoo2 mentioned. I wanted this movie to be better.
@@thecuriousgamingwarlock5026 ah gotcha. Yeah I think it was doomed to be not that good without merchant co-writing it
As Frankie Boyle said on Room 101 in front of Diane Morgan
"I don't need Ricky Gervais to tell me God doesn't exist, when Derek gets commissioned for 2 series"
Yeah Frankie Boyle comes across as jealous and bitter whenever he bring up Ricky Gervais, I've seen his frankly unfunny stand-up in which he slates Gervais as being less than funny which is quite ironic.
@@charliecatesby3346 his stand up is 10x better than Gervais stand-up. If you can call it stand up.
@@voodoochile333 Hmmmm yeah that's the exact point he made, that Gervais wasn't a stand-up comedian...Not really sure how you'd measure that but I enjoy Ricky Gervais stand-up much, much better.
@@charliecatesby3346 most of his stuff is either kicked off Karl Pilkington or lifted from the XFM shows.
@@voodoochile333 Hardly, the "Animals" show was entirely Novel though I do get how it is relatively niche, Boyle appeals often the the lowest common denominator they're the kind of jokes you might hear in any pub on any high street on a Saturday night, it's traditional stand up (Hence his snobbery about "Real stand-up" ). Also Frankie Boyle since finding fame has increasingly strayed into overtly political content which is never a great idea, it's clear he is promoting an agenda, which is irrelevant and boring in the context of a stand up show.
Another bit of trivia, in the Extras DVD commentary Ricky mocks the idea of doing a followup to The Office 10 years later
Ricky's work without stephen is pretty shit for the most part.
Paul Elroy so true!! Makes you think that merchant is actually the genius and Ricky is just the face :(
I still like Ricky, but certainly at times he’s basically come what he took the piss out of Extras
@@paulelroy6650 Derek could have been great but ruined by him playing the lead, his movies are generally shit. After Life is good though
@@rickrennyoneill There's definitely a bit of Brent in him as well, but that's probably the only reason he played the character so well.
The thing that annoyed me the most without doubt about Life on the Road was the constant "Heeeeee" at the end of every single sentence, it was like someone doing an extremely incorrect David Brent impression, it got on my nerves very quickly
Indeed. It's incredibly annoying and wears out its welcome within the first minute and a half of the runtime (by which point Gervais has already made that sound 73 times).
Yep. I can only remember him subtly doing that once, possibly twice, in The Office. But they were no where as noticeable or annoying than when he almost constantly did it in this piece of crap. Gervais really is lost without Steven Merchant. He's just too self absorbed to admit it.
I hated that too! His whole thing is off. The mannerisms, the phrases, the way he carried himself. You can't even chalk that up to character development - if anything he's deteriorated.
The problem is that these days we've seen far too much of the "real" Ricky Gervais to the point where we can't see past him to the characters he plays, and he doesn't have a wide acting range
Did he even do that in The Office?
David Brent went from a three-dimensional character who was believable and compelling to Ricky Gervais doing a smile and a laugh and a piss-poor, badly-photocopied impression of Brent.
They really Homer Simpson’d him. They made him a massive characature of himself. Brent was brilliant because while he always had the elements of his character from this film they were far more subtle and he was a lot more believable, and characters he interacted with reacted far more realistically rather than immediately telling him to fuck off. I feel with all of Gervais’ works since extras he’s stopped giving the audience any credit whatsoever. What was great about the office was you could tell how the characters felt about what Brent was saying because 1) there’s only one way you can react to a lot of what Brent says, but also 2) their body language and facial reactions. Now he just spells it out for us, the characters literally just tell us and even David exactly what they think. The subtlety is just not there and it makes it so unrealistic which is probably the worst thing you can say about a mockumentary. Like What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary about vampires but it still feels realistic within that world because the interactions are relatable. I still think there are funny bits in the film because even a characture of Brent is still funny sometimes and because Ricky is funny, just the writing is bad.
The entire premise of the movie is a bad idea. David Brent resonated with people because he was a parody of lame ageing middle-managers who think they're cool and popular "bosses". People recognised aspects of that character from their own real-life experiences, and a big part of the comedy comes from the office environment where in the name of professionalism you *have* to tolerate these kinds of awful people. Nobody wants to see that character touring as part of a rock band; it's just weird, not an experience most can relate to and not a setting where Brent's personality creates good comedy opportunities.
For me, in his later work, Ricky breaks the big rule of story writing- show don't tell.
In the Office, Brent's employees didn't flat out say they hated him to camera. You could see their contempt or embarrassment in their reactions. That was what set the tone of the show. This film felt way too broad. Everything was much less subtle. It felt like the Office for idiots.
"the Office for idiots" that's such a good way to put it. I thought it felt like Office fan fiction, it's honestly the quality I'd expecting some random fan on the internet to write. I always thought "When The Whistle Blows" in Extras was a bit like an alternate history of how shit The Office could have been, but this is probably a better example. It's like Gervais' "It's a Wonderful Life" moment for if he didn't have Steve Merchent.
Nailed it. It’s so spelt out it’s hard to really enjoy anything about the movie. And it’s depressing and bitter without any nuance.
Spot on!
or “the office for americans” to put it another way
@@mtlewis973 Sort of. I'm American and that's kind of what I was thinking. It's not necessarily that everyone here is just an idiot. I don't feel like that's fair or helpful. I will say that American productions treat the audience like idiots, though. You can tell an American production most of the time, particularly a comedy, because things lack subtlety, actors are loud and over the top and we rarely allow moments to be quiet and awkward. We never get to just sit in the uncomfortableness the way so many British shows do. While I'm not a big fan of The Office UK or U.S., I can see certain things that appeal to audiences in both. I just think that British shows tend to give audiences more credit, so I have more respect for the original The Office than for the U.S. version.
I went to the cinema to see this when it came out. I was glued to my seat. Otherwise I'd have got up and left.
Lol
Boom
That's a joke David Brent would have loved. You know, that bloke who's parents owned a paper shop. Until it blew away.
@@mennoknight78 You mean the business folded....
I piss pronunciate a lot of my worms
I totally agree with all of this. Plus some additional thoughts:
1. Why do the band seem constantly surprised by how terrible these songs are? Surely they've spent some time rehearsing this stuff? It's the same with the Equality Street video. Dom seems surprised by the things happening in the video, even though they're clearly lip-syncing to a song they've already recorded. The Office never did comedy which was external to the reality of the situation.
2. Similarly, why is the character of David Brent writing comedy songs? Surely he would be writing the best songs he possibly could, and we laugh at how unintentionally bad they are. But some of these seem like intentionally funny songs. See also, his song about the Gypsey woman. It's good and well-observed until the comedy breaks the reality of the situation.
3. Why do the students book him for a Crap Night, and then seem appalled and uncomfortable by how crap he is? They should be loving it, it's exactly what they were intending surely.
The film misses a MASSIVE trick with this last point - it could've gone in a much more interesting direction if David actually reached some modicum of success, but for being crap. He achieves a measure of what he wants, but only because people are laughing at him. Instead, it's yet more of the same, and it pootles along to his totally unearned redemption.
Also, judging by how the band react to each unfolding horror, he seems to play one song per gig, and a different song every night.
Foregone Conclusion are medicore at best. It's baffling and frustrating that their music seems to turn everyone into humourless zombies. Someone would at least be laughing at him? Someone would at least be enjoying the music of four professional session musicians?
Such a relief to watch so many of my own thoughts on 'life on the road' being said by someone else.
I remember coming out of the cinema feeling cheated and thinking this is just the 'comic relief' sketch stretched out over ninety minutes. The inexplicably horrible band, the black rapper awkwardness, the 'new' office which is just a reworked old office ...all so unsatisfying and pointless.
Like other terrible sequels, like highlander II, I will just try and pretend this never happened and think of 'the office' as it was - over. Done. Complete. Finished
The stuff with the band being mean to him doesn't work because they're just *so* rude. David Brent is annoying, but The Office was all about social niceties and the pressure it takes to make people 'snap' in a realistic way. Nobody would ever be that openly unpleasant to someone just for being irritating.
What I find funny about how Gervais' career has progressed is that the kind of fans that he has now (the ones who adore the likes of Derek and After life) actually resemble the ones that his character Andy Millman is so contemptuous towards in Extras! (ie the fans of 'when the whistle blows).
Nailed it. And his output like Derek is about as clever as When The Whistle Blows as well. Just crude garbage and shock humour. Same as Afterlife.
Afterlife has some genuinely funny moments, it is just a very grim experience dwelling on death and suicidal depression between comedy scenes.
The wig, the glasses, the catchphrase.
@@thefonzkiss I'm a massive fan on the office and extras but I also adore Derek as a series I think it's more about the storytelling than the comedy for the most part and even though it's called Derek I wouldn't say Ricky's character is the 'main' character it's more about the supporting roles in that show
@@TyrannosaurusCHEX It's awful, about as deep and harrowing as a John Lewis Christmas advert
Found this while stoned. It's like a niche eccentric british tv enthusiast channel, noice
I love watching these videos stoned too for some reason lol
@@quantumjourney1 Andrew's got a bit of a stoner voice.
A fair review. A major problem with this is the songs. Brent's songs in The Office were hilariously bad, but they still sounded like genuine songs and you could see how a character like David Brent might see them as works of genius. The songs in Life on the road are so obviously comedy songs that I just can't buy even David Brent seeing them as good songs. The character in this film should not have been David Brent.
I might be off base here but I sense even during The Office, Merchant and Gervais saw Brent slightly differently. I feel like Merchant saw him as not only a socially awkward loser but also quite a bad person. I always got the impression that Gervais saw Brent as a nice guy who while desperate for fame and socially awkward was deep down a nice bloke. I think what we see in Life on the road is Gervais's vision of the character in it's purest form and the film suffers for that.
I totally agree with you on the songs. The Office performances had a logic to them, David was a competent guitar player and tried really hard to write lyrics he thought were cool. Aiming but missing is why he's funny. Since then though, his songs have deviations and jokes in them, like in Lady Gypsy. The music video has him breaking and looking to camera as if to say "what is going on", but he wrote it and recorded it. He's a Weird Al or a Tenacious D at this point. I've always felt like Merch was the one keeping an eye on the authenticity and reality of Brent.
I think the conflict that you think is ricky and Steve having different views on Brent is actually just David trying to act more like Chris finch but in fact he’s not a bad person (like finch) so he feels uncomfortable.
@@FreddieElsom Absolutely. And the bit in the Equality Street video where Dom is about to start rapping, but David bursts in in front of him. Surely they've rehearsed the song? Surely they've already recorded it and are lip syncing? It should be funny because it's earnest but crap, not because there are jokes in it.
@@MrSirMrSirMr Top example.
I see where you're coming from, Danny. Gervais often says that Brent isn't a bad bloke at all, he just confuses popularity with respect. But i don't think that's quite right. Brent didn't just want respect. He wanted adulation. That's very different. He is a narcissist. And to get his needs met he was prepared to be quite horrible to people at times. His treatment of the disabled woman. Not caring about redundancies. Yes, he was insecure and needy, and you felt for him because of that, and even rooted for him at times. But he wasn't a nice guy. Yet increasingly Ricky tries to portray him like he was to seemingly try to show how much heart he has (bit Brent-ish, ironically!) as a writer. It's incongruent. Bit like the film.
Please rip into After Life.
Gervais needs Merchant so much.
Thank you. Special Correspondence was equally awful. I thought I was a Gervais fan, but turns out I'm really a Stephen Merchant fan.
After Life is alright, that’s about as far as I’d go. I’m amazed at the acclaim it got tbh. Of course Ricky laps it up.
Yes, After Life is mawkish and morally confused. I really struggled to finish the first series and have no intention of watching the second.
afterlife is so good what are you on?
@John Gilmore It has a good premise, a talented cast, and some funny moments, but it needs someone to tell Gervais to tone down the sermonizing and get off his various hobby horses.
Great analysis. This movie feels like Gervais saw the Alan Partridge movie and decide Brent could do something similar [the love interest here reminds me of Angela from that movie] but Partridge is a character that can change setting and the hostage situation gave the film momentum. The radio station, the photo session and bringing the women back to the hotel all felt like sketches thought up on the day of filming to pad it out. I liked Doc Brown in the movie but the rest of the supporting cast are forgettable. Merchant's fighting with my family, while nothing special, was a lot better written and directed than this.
Yes! Alan is an active character, David is a passive character. Alan does things, David reacts to things. David's set up the tour, and he tries to pull a couple of women, but other than that he does absolutely nothing outside what's already been set up - the film is just him being increasingly put upon.
The love interest is ripped off from Ricky’s Netflix film Special Correspondents (or they inspired each other as films were both released in 2016)
I loved The Office UK, it was the greatest show I had ever seen. It was a complex, multifaceted social commentary of British life and archetypes AND the jokes were well considered and timed. I thought Gervais was a genius.... until I watched this movie in 2016. Then, I began to open my eyes to how crucial Stephen Merchant is to essentially everything involved in his projects - and to take him out, exposes gaping flaws in Gervais' writing and direction. Thinking of it, almost every single Gervais project without the help of Merchant is basic, dull, repetitive and poor. Derek, Special Correspondents, Life on The Road. Gervais was working well below his level on all of those. It would take more careful examination - was Merchant the genius behind it all? Or did Merchant act as a wall which Gervais used to bounce his best ideas off? One thing is certain, there will never be anything created by either of them half as good as The Office while they are apart.
I had never even heard of Special Correspondents. 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I’m so glad I found this channel- I’m a massive peep show/office/xfm fan. Your analysis of On the road is great- I really disliked the film and a lot of the characters in it. The cinematography was way off compared to the office. So many of the shots are so un-documentary like. You constantly get cuts to shots which should show in theory the ‘camera crew’ from the previous shot- this is something which happened a lot in Life’s too short as well. It really takes you out of the experience. They also used more well known actors which takes you out of the realism of the show- something which both Merchant and Gervais were really careful about when they wrote the office. I also never understood why so many people hate Brent in the film, particularly the band manager. Brent’s mannerisms also seem to have primarily boiled down to ‘that laugh’ and being completely socially unaware. I think not having Stephen Merchant write was a huge mistake, and Ricky’s comedy seems to have changed a lot since the office and it doesn’t really fit anymore. The Microsoft Values sketches were a really great display of Brent’s character; a Brent like that in a film would have been great.
I agree with every point you made! I think the cause of the issues with this film, and nearly everything Ricky has done in a long time, is that Steve isn't with him anymore. Steve himself has made some absolute rubbish solo stuff too, but together they really balance out each others weaknesses and it made for a great writing and directing duo. I have no source for this, but from listening to the XFM shows on repeat for the past 5-6 years, I always got he the impression Steve 'got' the film making side better than Ricky did. I don't think as many big mistakes with the shots, the casting, etc, like you mentioned, would've happened with him on board. (Although similar shots that would in theory show the camera crew do happen in The Office too, the staff training episode has quite a few of them just off the top of my head).
I've always somewhat thought that Ricky wanted to make this film to spite Steve in a way, and to prove that he didn't need him to make David Brent be a successful and popular character again, yet he ironically did the exact opposite and proved that despite being the face of David, it's not him that makes Brent work, and the character simply isn't the same without Steve (who originally came up with him as the Seedy Boss, lest we forget).
Andrew love this video, this film sucks so hard. The Office is one of the best things ever on TV, but wasn’t ‘Seedy Boss’ a Gervais character they used for a short film Merchant had to make for his internship at the BBC?
Also never understood why these guys were ABSOLUTE JACKASSES to Brent! That's really not realistic, especially because THEY KNOW THEY'RE BEING FILMED FOR A FRICKING DOCUMENTARY.
Why exactly did Ricky and Stephen go their separate ways? Are they working on anything else together?
I do like after life, though. I dunno, it has 'something' at least.
Black quipped
Completely agree with everything you've said. I try not to consider this as part of the David Brent cannon. Much better just to pretend it finished after the Christmas party in Slough.
My biggest irritation was always the fact that suddenly ten minutes from the end of the film, everyone suddenly says "huh, I guess he's alright actually". Seems like Ricky just wanted to show off some music that he'd written, so he wrote in film in which he could do that, under the guise of it being ironic, because Brent was performing it.
Given Ricky’s output on his own I can only come to the conclusion that Merchant was more than 50% of the talent
When RG was asked why the original Office was only 2 short seasons he responded (paraphrasing) that he didn't want it to get stale, and yet he seemed to contradict that idea by creating Life on the Road.
its really off putting how gervais keeps using the same actors
I don't think it would be as bad if the camerawork wasn't so boring and the colour grading looking like a either a hospital or what a hospital looks like after a lethal dose of ketamine
@@maxhaughton1964 alright don't get coarse
I think he surrounds himself with actors who will go along with whatever he wants.
Scorsese?
@@LynchyVidz Big Difference between DeNiro and Pesci compared to David Earl and Ashley Jensen
He went the American route, which is "let's resurrect this thing which was lying buried perfectly at peace"
I'd be inclined to believe he was offered some money to do it, or at least that he needed money... because I mean, the guy kept it away from the branding of 'The Office' included only David Brent and basically kept it as far away as possible from being a proper follow-up, intentional or not at least it was just the one character, so disassociating this movie from the show isn't hard at all.
Done it to plenty of UK shows [Ab Fab for example which ended originally in 1996 but keeps being revived to less and less success, including a film released the same year as this].
Everyone knows you don't go full American
I think a more interesting movie would've been David hiring a film crew himself to document the tour. It would've raised the stakes and desperation having him really try to control how he was being represented and lead to more of those authentic documentary moments that make The Office great. This is just a comedy movie that sorta looks like a documentary, to me.
Great idea
Agreed. In canon, it makes absolutely no sense for a documentary team to want to go back to an irrelevant minor celebrity who hasn't been relevant since the mid 2000's. We know Brent didn't become a big star.
That "huuuuu" laugh winds me up. Seems overly frequent and out of place in this.
Count Of Montechristo it’s a laugh of desperation. Gervais’ own..
Spot on
Always thought that too. Urgh
@@LukasOfTheLight When did he do it in The Office? I thought it was invented for this movie, which is another reason that the character is totally different in this movie than in The Office.
I almost turned it off because of that.
Wish I had, to be fair.
This is such a great review, I've watched it around 3 times. Well done on the editing / commentary.
Such a terrible tragedy of a film. The bit where the crowd starts waving hands with the chest slapping guy is freaking unbelievable
The band member Dan appeared in Peep Show S8E03 - he is the customer in Baths Bathrooms and Fittings who wants modern yet traditional, two very disparate styles.
He wrote Peep Show S8 E5-Chairman Mark and was a writer/actor on 'The Wrong Man's' too.
This is great analysis of the film. It was meant to be a comedy, but I went away from it feeling sad for the David Brent character as someone vulnerable who was going through a mid-life crisis and trying to have one last hurrah, whilst being unfairly ignored and isolated by the majority of people in the film. He is an annoying and unaware character but he didn't deserve to be ostracized like he was. In the office, he was irritating but he was able to converse with others on some level. In this film, he was a nervous wreck and lacked any form of subtlety in his actions.
Yep, it’s depressing, but not in a way that’s successfully balanced out with sharp humour. Just a jarring and unearned set of a redemption twists at the end.
You more or less just summed up the exact internal monologue I had with myself after I first saw that film! Lol.
One of the lowest points of this film has to be the talking head segment where the band members say something like 'he's not racist, he just doesn't get it'. Less is more sometimes. The viewers can see that for themselves. In that scene in The office where Brent accidentally headbutts the secretary he's hired, imagine if we'd cut to a talking head bit with Tim or Dawn saying 'He didn't mean to headbutt her, he's just so clumsy and awkward with women'.
There's no attempt to make us care about the side characters here. In The Office, I can barely off the top of my head recall a single talking head segment where a character other than David Brent talks about David Brent (possibly one with Gareth at the end of series one?). In this film pretty much every talking head segment is all about Brent. I know he is even more central to this plot than he was in The Office, but it's too much.
Fantastic point about the talking head scenes. 😀
Standards have slipped for Ricky over the past few years by the looks of it. He needs to go back to co-writing. Also, I agree with most of your critique. That ending, where the band just suddently start to like Brent, is ridiculous, and strikes me as something that he wrote in a rush. If only he had someone to help him properly develop his scripts. Derek and After Life suffer from the same, dare I say it, amateurish writing, in which the emotional moments feel completely false and jarring.
Ok! Sure he will appreciate your expert view.
Skizzrrr Skrrt Steve is the intellect
Really good analysis, that.
I agree that Ricky Gervais misjudged how much people actually like David Brent -- just like Alan Partridge, he's endearing in spite of being so awful, so watching a whole film of stuck-up wankers being horrible to him was actually quite unpleasant and uncomfortable. He's someone we're actually rooting for (which is at least partly why the Christmas special was such a high point of The Office). Maybe Gervais eventually remembered that, hence the improbable and cack-handed change of attitude from Dan, but that was too little too late for this film.
To be honest, I spent most of the film hoping that tour bus would accidentally drive off a cliff or something. It was set up so perfectly for something like that :)
I know from working as a musician that it’s part of the job to be cool with whoever you work with, especially if you’re backing a featured artist’. Those session guys would laugh behind his back irl but if this film had more bearing in reality they’d tolerate the vanity project nature of it all with a bit more low key humility and most of all professionalism.
Finally someone has made a vid on how Gervais has strayed from the path of good writing. Gervais is lost without Merchant , he is off the rails and Merchant clearly knew how to reign him in. I really would like to know what happened to their relationship but I can guess that it was Rickys ego that meant Merchant just couldn’t work with him anymore. Rickys work since extras (Life’s too short had some good scenes ) has been appalling in my opinion where every character sounds like Gervais does when being interviewed with far too many of his world views forced in at every opportunity. The original XFM shows are still available and are incredibly popular for a specific reason - pre incredible fame and arrogance
Sorry for rambling but I’ve been waiting for someone to make an analysis of this film for a long time ! Great work !
www.digitalspy.com/tv/a864690/stephen-merchant-ricky-gervais-oxford-union/
Merchant went on to explain in greater detail how their styles differ, noting: "[Ricky] wants to perform in stuff he does, and I'm quite happy for neither of us to perform and to let other people perform... it's not quite something that he's interested in.
"A lot of Ricky's humour is about him putting it across, which is why he's so good at stand-up. Also, he likes to get stuff done. He's impatient. Whereas I'll happily spend months, years, grinding it out."
So it's pretty much confirming what many people said in these comments: Gervais' writing comes across as shoddy and would have needed some revisions. I think your point about his arrogance is also in that carefully worded quote. Coming to think of it, there aren't all that many writers who only write for themselves. IMO Gervais' acting is great in The Office and Extras, and decent in his other projects, but I don't think he's a very versatile actor and some of his projects (Derek in particular) could have benefited from casting someone else.
@@WillowJordan1979 definitely especially for Derek the show was okay and had karl pinkerton for a big chunk of it, but it didn't have to have ricky as the main man
What about this comment now with After Life?
I couldn't believe that ending when they all switched to liking him
This channel deserves so much more attention! I hope you get your wave of subscribers / views one day
Please do After Life ! It's a saccharine monstrosity
Omg yes, Derek and After Life are so self righteous and preachy. People actually like those shows, cant see why.
Absolute rubbish, everyone jumping on the Ricky bandwagon
What? After Life was great. Wasn't perfect, but generally good. Imo
@@Fnelrbnef it was a Ricky cringe binge .. talentless
@@jupitorious7925 Nah, that's just wrong. You might not have liked it, but calling him talentless is just incorrect. The show made countless viewers cry their hearts out. That's not talentless.
The ending is the exact same as in the (equally poor) "Special Correspondents". Ricky walking off camera, talking to a woman. In this case, a woman he previously ignored, and I agree it's weird that he didn't even remember she existed. I suppose the joke is that Pauline is so plain and timid that she doesn't really register as a romantic interest or even a friend, but there's something very off character about that. Brent has always been nice to people who respect/admire him, he drinks that stuff up, he would be pleased with Pauline's interest and milk it.
The David Brent in the film is like a totally different person to the one in tbe TV series. It's as if Gervais forgot how to play the role. Brent never did an irritating, constant giggle for one thing!
I agree to a certain extent, but I would also expect the character to be a bit different 13 years later and at a different point in their life.
It blows my mind when you see people on Twitter replying to videos of his poorer projects, saying how amazing they are. The biggest insult I can give to this movie is that I can't remember anything from it. It was dire.
I’m with Gervais on it not being an “Office” movie.
It’s just like “El Camino”, which we can all totally agree is NOT a Breaking Bad movie
A theory as to why none of the Office characters appear in this movie, as in a canon theory: the documentary crew tried contacting some (those they could get hold of) but none of them were interested. Off the top of my head, the only character I think David Brent would have stayed in contact with for much longer after The Office would maybe be Gareth, though I'm guessing that Gareth would've moved on from Wernham & Hogg and eventually got a better management job elsewhere, and stopped replying to David's messages about four years ago.
You could tell he never respected Gareth (the constant assistant regional manager think mildly irritated Brent, but he was too nice to say "You're not, you're just my lackey") but he actually liked Tim, I think he would have made the effort to stay in contact with Tim
@@drexlspivey5828 True, but I'd imagine that eventually Tim would get bored of David, especially if he's moved on from Wernham Hogg and is happily married etc. So David would "fall back" on trying to be pals with Gareth who himself would be too interested in his career to really take much interest in David. I'm probably reading way too much into this hahaha
@@MrWillyMrBrightside I think Tim was always bored of David, I should rephrase what I meant, Tim and David wouldn't have become close buddies, but David would have TRIED to stay in contact with Tim
@@drexlspivey5828 Yes I think you're spot on there. David was always a very lonely person. If he had gone to uni, he'd be the one to still hang out at the SU bar five years after graduating
Even by the end of Series 2 Gareth had lost all respect for Brent and in the Christmas special his interactions when Brent arrives are full of back handed insults ['Always nice to see you...bit disruptive...' Maybe you should call ahead' etc.] so I think he'd cut him off quickly. I agree Tim probably wouldn't stay in touch either [I suspect he only agreed to the drink just to end the embarrassing scene in part 2 of the special].
I agree in universe that is probably why no one from the Office would be in this. No one really seemed to care when Brent was fired [as his boasts of a 'mutiny' at his departure is completely hollow] and they would have moved on...unlike Brent who's living in the past.
The original U.K version of The Office is perfect. The film is terrible along with the U-S version. Excellent review with great references.
Equality Street was also alluded to in S1 Ep4, Training.
I loved the film, as a failed musician I felt the pain of a lot of these depicted gigs before. And I live near reading so a lot of it is probably funnier to me.
spot on , it captured the mood so well....
What do you mean failed musician? Have you stopped playing music altogether?
@@patriciofernandez2711 no, just, never made any money from it or had many people coming out to shows, like most musicians 😂
@@hotfroganimations keeo doing your thing. Don't chase the fame, just enjoy playing and people will come. You meter know who's in which room in regards to that too!
@@looplst that's kind of you to say.
It's basically a head on a pillow.
Im surprised you didn't draw a parallel between David being made to drive behind the tour bus and Jez getting the bus when Hans and the band take the van. That scene seems heavily Peep Show inspired!
Ricky Gervais isn't funny without Stephen Merchant. After Life is cliched, heart-string dross, Derek is terrible, he spends most of his time now complaining that kids don't like his jokes so it was inevitable that the Brent movie would be a piece of trash.
And tweets every bit of praise he gets - or rather thanks everyone for the support, which inevitably gets him more praise.
absolutely agree. After Life was appaulling overall with perhaps 2% being anywhere interesting, comical or insightful. It was predicable and dull, quite frankly without the legacy of The Office, this would've flopped like it should've done.
Merchant is indeed a far superior writer in my opinion. Ricky on his own in a tv / film context, doesn't work. Never has, and he proves it time and time again.
I hate After Life and all its teen angst with a passion. Have never rolled my eyes so much
@@elvisleeboy yes elvisleeboy that one comment I wrote took so much energy
Spot on. I like Gervais the man, but all of his output post-Extras has been substandard and schmaltzy, without really earning the emotion he effing SHOVELS onto the viewer.
band throughout movie: I hate Brent
band at the end even though David and Them remain unchanged : I like Brent
Merchant's exclusion might be why David's the only character with funny lines- well, lines intended as funny, the rest are just slightly irritated by him and not even in a comical way...and no more likable.
I do think Ricky is ultimately a good writer/actor, The Office could never work otherwise (I know he didn't do it alone but he was clearly important) his denial this is an office movie feels kind of futile, it's disappointing whether viewed as a followup or not (but obviously, it absolutely is a follow up)
Absolutely. I thought I'd fallen asleep and missed a huge chunk of the film. Turns out it was just a shit ending that made no sense.
Good point. Basically. Merchant reigned Gervais in.
He went from Brent to being a pound shop philosopher that middle aged men quote in real ale pubs.
The central problem with it is it doesnt adhere to " less is more." There is far too much of Brent in it. The Office explored other characters, this was all Brent and it over shoots.
This movie is not just bad, it´s lazy and incompetent. None of the characters seem like real people.
I completely agree with your opinions here and those echoed below. I think there are many people like me, for whom Gervais is a comedy hero, so it pains me to say that almost all the stuff he's done on his own has just not been very good. Life's Too Short, Special Correspondents, Afterlife, this film....all just not funny or particularly well made. It seems crazy to say considering how good Extras and The Office were.
This Country lifted 80% of the Gareth Keenan character. They should be ashamed.
As a hardcore Office fan, those first 10 minutes killed me. I couldnt do it to myself to watch the rest.
Thanks for summarising and glad to find i wasnt the only one deeply insulted or annoyed by it.
They shouldnt have even attempted to make the film without Merchant.
Totally agree with your review. He seems to make everything overly cringe or overly saccharine, now.
I agree with everything you said. This film 'Life On The Road' is a massive cock up.
I love the Office to death, I've watched it about 100 times and never get tired of it. However, even I didn't bother with this movie. I could tell it was going to be a disappointment. I just knew it wouldn't live up to the show from all the clips and promotional stuff I saw. Once Ricky knows what he's doing, he become too self-aware. It's the problem with almost all comedy characters. They lean too heavily into their shtick and it ruins the illusion. I honestly feel as though Stephen Merchant is a huge reason why the Office was so good. And I don't believe Ricky has ever made a show anywhere near as good as he has when Stephen was co producing with him. Clearly he understands story and how to create believable characters and scenarios. All too often in Ricky's solo pursuits have I seen characters deliver disalogue that I know would have never flown has Stephen been involved. It all became a bit too obvious that his shows are just a vehicle for him to deliver his thoughts and opinions on things in liife. Don't get me wrong, I think he's hillarious as a comedy person, but as a show producer he's not come close to being involved with a show as good as the Office or even Extras. The comedy in Derek, Afterlife, Life on the Road (I think I'm missing one more) has all been a bit patronising and simple for me.
I never believed I was watching something supposedly shot by a documentary crew, there's way too many camera angle changes in each scene, or David spontaneously walks into a room and there's already a camera inside ready to film him...
I think when he shoots the woman in the face with the t-shirt cannon is the best example of this.
We should see the camera man on stage filming the woman when they're filming Ricky and vice versa.
im glad you pointed out the ridiculous character change with ten minutes to go.. i had to rewind twice because i assumed id missed something
I watched this the other day - and i was praying for a brent epiphany where he would realise he is better sitting back as a “manager” and letting the band + rapper perform - and he kinda made it but it also humbled him
- but no we got the full gervais here
Gervais, for all his sense of right and wrong, seems to have a really nasty / superior streak at times.
Good video... you are so right about the last 10 mins makes no sense. Its like opposite of show dont tell.. suddenly all the characters telling us they "like" him with no reasoning apart from feeling sorry for him. Wtf lol
Thanks for making this video. I caught the film on cable one day and found it quite unsettling and disconcerting, so your review puts the whole thing into perspective. Having said that, the movie didn't bore me, I had no trouble sticking till the end. And I did have a few genuine laugh out loud moments, but it did leave me confused.
Agree with your review. Some funny bits but the whip-speed change in attitudes towards David is risible.
This movie sucked because: 1) The entire film is "punching down" at Brent, whereas The Office was mostly "punching up" at him. 2) There aren't any interesting supporting characters. The Office had Gareth, Tim, Dawn, Chris Finch, Big Keith, Neil, etc. etc. 3) The character arc is mostly a re-hash of the Christmas special.
Agreed especially with point 3. The fact that so much of this is repeating old ground from that special [Brent finds fame is not all it's cracked up to be and gets a girlfriend at the end] just make the film even more pointless and redundant.
Ricky’s solo ventures are really lacking in subtlety.
Really glad someone was able to put all my thoughts into words. The films shocking and some of the issues reoccur in Afterlife (the recycling of old material etc)
What I find really unbelievable is the way that Gervais uses the same actors to play parts in different shows i.e Afterlife prostitute and the date woman here, Pauline's actress plays a part in Afterlife too. I understand that the initial premise of The Office needed actors to be non-entities so that the office environment was realistic. Exactly, the opposite is true here, recycling the same actors makes the various universes seem unrealistic.
Graham Roberts yeah it’s been going on since cemetery junction. Gervaise is just incredibly lazy his writing is sloppy, his locations are bland. His subtly is lacking and he casts people he’s worked with before because he is safe. Loads of Derek have been recast and the “arsehole” who works in the office in Life On The Road (LOTR) pops up in series 2. I was so disappointed in this as it really forgets how to look like a documentary. It’s pace is all over the place and it doesn’t really do anything. It wasn’t needed nor wanted. The office ends perfectly and if you’re going to do a Brent movie it would have been nicer to see him as a move developed character that has learnt to stick up for himself instead it just retcons the special and goes for an exaggerated version of Brent. Just shite!
Absolutely brilliant video, I always felt exactly the same way, both times I saw it but none of my office loving mates have seen it so could never discuss with them, so glad I'm not the only one. Particularly the sudden change of attitude from the sound engineer. It's so annoying because the office specials tied everything up so perfectly and this undid it all, for Brent's character anyway.
Spot on. The movie was so disappointing but that was to be expected - no Merchant, and none of the other characters that we loved in the show. Also, his laugh... So annoying.
I quite liked this film, but I totally agree when it comes to the band members.
I get that they're meant to be characters that don't gel with Brent as a person but they just seem unnecessarily cruel. The redemption and reconciliation seems fake because there was too much bad blood to roll back on.
I personally didn't think it was bad. "Bad" suggests it's evil or something. It's just shit. It's a shitcom.
Good analysis, Andrew. I was so pleased to see a character as good as David Brent come back. Such a classic character, I didn't want Brent confined just to the history of The Office. David Brent for Ricky Gervais is the equivalent of Alan Partridge for Steve Coogan. However, it was disappointing for all the reasons you gave. I felt underwhelmed in a similar way I felt underwhelmed by Alph Papa...
The worst thing about the film wasn't even all this. There's a mawkish message tacked on to the end of it, which is basically "you'll be happier if you give up your dreams; the only reason to have a dream is to want to be liked and people might like you if you just carry on working at the office anyway".
The 'having a nervous breakdown but denying it' aspect of David Brent seems directly lifted from Alan Partridge to me, as does a lot of his more nuanced aspects. An obscenely overrated character imo but still pretty enjoyable
@Withnail I found both films hugely disappointing, too.
@Withnail Yeah Alpha Papa was also total shite
"I was clinically fed up!"
If you can bear to sit through them, I'd love to hear your reviews of Derek and *shudder* After Life. After watching this, I imagine you'd have similar responses to me but I very much enjoy your fair, concise and thorough analysis.
Though, I'm surprised the songs don't get more flack in this video. I mean yeah, I agree they're fine. Meh. Etc. But the lack of subtlety is just unbearable for me. There's no way anyone could write these songs and think that they were good - unlike Freelove Freeway and the other snippets of songs from The Office, which are totally believable and only subtly shit and cringe worthy. You still totally buy that Brent would write them and think they were great. These are just comedy songs. With ridiculous lyrics. (With the ever so slight, and very generous, exception of 'Ooh La La' which is okay) I think the songs were the worst bit of this film for me.
Anyway, thanks for great vids! Keep going
@John Gilmore I guess the dialogue. It's just very lazy and nothing like how anyone actually talks. Also the fact that the main character is only really redeemable coz everyone.... says he is? It's just lazy storytelling. Like, Gervais only knows how to write in a talking head style, but without any of the honesty + subtlety of the Office. Just having characters just... say exactly what you're supposed to be taking from the story at that point. "I see through it" "he's such a good person". Like, how?? Show us??
Also that line about how women just naturally want to take care of people. Like, ugh, no dude! Work on yourself! People don't owe you forgiveness or tolerance. I dunno - I'm not explaining it as well as Andrew would, haha! I just really fkin thought it was terrible. At least Derek s1 had Karl. Who was a little diamond
@John Gilmore Yeah totally. Also, 'we need to show this is a good guy' 'okay, give him a dog'. Wow ¬¬ groundbreaking
@John Gilmore for me it's that everyone is written like an over-the-top moron and he's always the smartest guy in the room. The first episode of season 2 relied on a dreaded trope right out of the gate: the foul mouthed old lady. That's a personal pet peeve and it's just lazy comedy. And here's an idea. If youre so miserable maybe do something meaningful with your life rather than just rolling your eyes at local oddballs at your phony newspaper job
Was total garbage. Just like everything the guy has done after Life’s Too Short. He’s nothing without Merchant to keep him on track and put some heart and soul into his writing.
Yes another problem with the film is nearly everyone is unjustifiably horrible to David and then secondly David seems to have become unbearably manic, childish and naive, so we have characters we don't like and aren't sympathetic or interesting or well written.
i enjoyed it, but i guess on a like meta level, like how david brent relates to ricky gervais. i also didn't mind the guy who paid for the snows arc. like the way i saw it the band and him thought david brent was a stupid jerk, and they'll try to make as much money off him as possible because he 'deserves' it, and it just got to the point where he felt like a bully.
Hes bullied and treated like a moron,and surrounded by horrible people..Nothing like the brent in the office.
Brilliant review, I did enjoy the film probably on a superficial level as it was good to see the further adventures of David Brent, I'm not sure how my brain works I didn't even register the non appearance of any of the other Office characters or the glaring inconsistencies in the film, it also shows our imagination takes over I didn't notice how when (I forget his name) became friendly at the end and now sorry for David Brent what he'd been like earlier on in the film, I guess it happens in real life sometimes though, sometimes people have resentment towards each other and hate what they're doing together then they soften and become more sentimental and alright about it afterwards, probably because when we have to do something to put effort into it we are up against it and then later on we can reflect back on what was actually good about it, that's about all I can get from the way this film ended.
The two women he met, it should have been at the show as the only two fans of his music, then he reacts by over compensating to thank them for it and then the awkward hotel scenes we saw would have worked fine. Also the band characters would have been better portrayed as not just totally disparaging of him but also a little sorry for him all the way through, with Brent in denial of that, instead it was just contempt.
When you mentioned how strange it was for the rock & metal crowd to suddenly be bringing the house down about Dom's rap, if it had had the subtlety of "The Office" instead it might have worked like this, that the crowd watching Dom also had a lacklustre response to his rap and he initially thought he had blown it with the A&R label guy, the camera would then show Brent looking a bit too pleased and relieved about that but trying to hide it, but then show the label guy take Dom aside and offer him a meeting and say he was really impressed with that song even if everybody else wasn't, then show Brent's disappointed reaction to that that Dom had done OK after all but there's nothing at all in that for Brent, that's more "The Office" territory in handling it would you think:? Anyway great review that got me thinking quite a lot about the film that I hadn't thought before! I actually just enjoyed it without realising all these flaws.
The last decent thing he wrote was Extras.
All the good stuff that came after involved Karl.
Life's too Short was also good, tho it had really good actors.
did they use the same set for each live show scene?
It made it clear what the unsung hero Stephen Merchant brought to the table. Saying that, I still enjoyed it! Not a perfect movie by all means, but appreciated the sentiments that Gervais tried to get across.
Sorry Andrew I’m a new subscriber and I’ve literally binged all your videos in a day I think you’re brilliant and I love your content!!! And as a lover or Mark Corrigan I hope you’ll appreciate my nazi like approach to grammar when I say you ALWAYS say ‘irriguardless’ please just say regardless in future or else cheers
He also said "disinterested" when he meant "uninterested"- "disinterested" means neutral and a fair judge, not lacking interest. David Mitchell made this exact point on Would I Lie To You.
I’ve been watching a few of your Ricky gervais videos again after the afterlife video you made and was just wondering if you’d do a video on his Netflix film special correspondents? It’s got a similar ending to this and afterlife of him just walking off with a girl who has a bit of a crush on him for some reason
I found this film so hard to watch.
I hated the band and the way they were to David.
But overall I really enjoyed the movie and the sound track is great.
I actually had the same feelings when watching the Office back in the day.
My only issue with the movie was the ending.
I would have loved it if the ending had been this.
Davids Christmas song is the christmas number 1.
The band in this are like the dwarves in The Hobbit trilogy. Nameless and unimportant.
I find the office rewatchable to the point it never gets boring, life on the road is a hard watch for some reason. I own it on dvd though just because Ricky Gervais is a legend.
Mate, this is sick. Just found your channel and looking forward to the Peep show stuff. The ending of this film infuriated me- almost all Gervais' stuff now is weird and unsubtle. He definitely needed Merchant. Also love your being irked at the crowd creaming themselves over some inoffensive mild-rap which I dont even think had any swears!
This Country steals 90% of the Gareth Keenan character.
Stephen Merchant is a great writer.
8:50 you got this part abit wrong to be honest. When ricky say " she said you had a mental breakdown" he's just joking. He's not actually heard this from anyone he's just trying to join in on the banter.
The vunerableness of Brent came through in the movie ...top class .Gervais is a genius!!
This is outstanding work mate. I'd love you to do a similar analysis of Derek or After Life.
Imagine if in the American Office, out of nowhere, Stanley of all people ended up defending Michael, unironically claiming he’s the best boss ever and beating up everyone that offended him.
I think they said it would be a bit sad/depressing to have some of the old characters still working in the office in Slough 20 years later.
Will you ever do a video on after life?