Upon discovering that Ricky Gervais was set to bring his most renowned comic creation, and everybody’s favourite chilled out entertainer David Brent to the silver screen, those with a fondness, and precious sense of affection towards The Office couldn’t be blamed for having apprehensions. Though you can justify this mockumentary, much like you could the Christmas specials, never feeling contrived in why a crew would catch up with a former reality TV star as he embarks on a tour of Berkshire, doubts crept in when it transpired Stephen Merchant was sitting this one out. Any such worries are quickly defused however, as it takes a mere few seconds for the laughs to kick in – and it barely stops from thereon.
Our Interviews from the David Brent Premiere
We catch up with Brent (Gervais) as he prepares for the tour he’s been dreaming about for years. After he was fired from his job at Wernham Hogg, which had all been captured in a televised documentary series, he struggled with the minor dose of fame he received, resulting in a nervous breakdown. Now a salesman, flogging items like tampons to unsuspecting clients (“one size fits all”), Brent effectively bankrupts himself to fund his tour, taking his band Foregone Conclusion – complete with rapper, and sort-of-friend Dom (Doc Brown), around various dingy bars and clubs in South East England, selling very few tickets in the process.
There’s a rich sadness to this nuanced tale, which Gervais thrives in, balancing humour and pathos persistently and playing them off against one another – in a way that Steve Coogan frustratingly resisted in Alan Partridge’s big-screen debut Alpha Papa. With a cinematic endeavour we have the chance to get into the protagonist’s psyche, to examine their inner emotions and linger over their precarious and volatile state of mind and show them off to be vulnerable, and real. Gervais is evidently aware of that, and the film is all the better for it. For Brent is a tragic, lonely man, abut that’s why he works. It’s a tried, tested and triumphant technique, just take Father Ted, or Alan Partridge, or even Basil Fawlty, it’s what makes these characters so special, for they are spiked with a palpable sense of fragility, and in most cases, are just quite pathetic.
There are a couple of moments when Gervais – who remains faithful to the role for the most part, does creep into his own stand-up routine, a little too confrontational in his approach. That also tarnishes the musical numbers, with a few lines played too forcefully for comedy. This is epitomised in the exchange in his single Lady Gypsy about heather, not realistic in how Brent would compose his lyrics, too self-aware, playing up his foibles he’s not supposed to know he has. That said, the music maintains a certain respectability, which is the beauty of it. Much like Free Love Freeway from the series, he writers annoyingly catchy songs (well, they would have to be given Foregone Conclusion were once supported by a little known Scottish outfit called Texas) – but that’s part of the genius. If the songs were brilliant they wouldn’t be believable, but equally so if they were completely terrible.
One notable difference between the film and the series is that this latest endeavour is lacking any significant supporting characters. Dom is as close as we get, but there’s no character quite strong enough to alleviate some of the comedic pressure off Brent in the same way that Gareth or Tim (or even Keith) used to, not to mention the way they would serve in normalising Brent – like the famous “what are the options again?” scene, where suddenly he’s the straight guy in the situation – and we don’t have that element injected into this production.
Instead, Brent is the only character who provides any wit to proceedings, and given his demeanour and distinctive sensibilities irritates those around him, after almost 100 minutes in his company, we too start to feel that way. But Gervais has maintained that glorious sense of subtlety, resisting any substantial, dramatic situations that you may have feared a movie would have attempted to force upon the role (again where Partridge faltered with the hostage narrative). It’s the small things that count, Brent doesn’t have a huge hit single, he doesn’t sell out Wembley – it remains well within its means. Just like the series, he didn’t get his job back, he just did a Frank Spencer impression that got a chuckle. That was enough for him, and this film revels in that exact same notion.
As a result, narratively speaking Life on the Road doesn’t truly go anywhere, but that’s in line with the subject himself, and emblematic of the tour he’s stupidly decided to embark on. As we too find ourselves going around in circles, just as he is on the M25 – but that’s all part of the charm. That’s David Brent.
