David Brent: Life On The Road review round-up: Ricky Gervais’s The Office spin-off divides critical opinion
Some hate the cringe humour, while other love it
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Your support makes all the difference.Before David Brent: Life On The Road was released, it was quite apparent the film would split opinion. Ricky Gervais’s stint as the character in the Office was relatively marmite; on one side, critics adore his cringe sense of humour, while others despise the comic creation.
Unsurprisingly, reviews have been just as mixed. Both The Independent and Telegraph awarded then film four stars, the former saying: “Brent is back, and more grotesque, more embarrassing, and more humiliated by life than ever.”
However, both The Guardian and Empire gave the film damning two-star reviews, the latter saying: “it mostly feels like a faint photocopy of what we’ve seen before.”
There were some reviews that fell in the middle, both Digital Spy and Radio Times giving the film three-star reviews, DS comparing the film to comedy classic Spinal Tap, saying: “Life On The Road wants to be This Is Spinal Tap but it lacks the feel-good factor.”
The Independent - Sean O’Grady - 4/5
If you have missed Brent, more or less absent from our screens in the 12 years since the last episode of the original The Office series was run, then you will be pleased to learn that Brent is back, and more grotesque, more embarrassing, and more humiliated by life than ever.
The Telegraph - Robbie Collin - 4/5
Poignancy blooms in strange places. A scene in which Brent repeatedly uses the n-word aims impossibly at tenderness – and hits. A certain piece of sentimental stagecraft at a Christmas gig is carefully built up as an disappointment-in-waiting, and so it proves – though it also draws real tears, honestly earned.
The Guardian - Henry Barnes - 2/5
The threat of a younger audience not getting David Brent is real, as is the danger that those of us who were there the first time might tire of him. Brent’s no Partridge and Gervais isn’t Coogan. At the same time, you can’t just throw a situation at him as you could with, say, Edina and Patsy. Gervais and Merchant built this character too well.
Once Brent and the band hit the road and actually start playing to half-empty crowds a lot of the laughs dry up. “Edgy” gags about race become a crutch, comic beats from The Office are lifted wholesale and a high quantity of the telegraphed punchlines seem to operate on the principle that the sight of a heavy set woman is the funniest thing in the world.
Radio Times - Stella Papamichael - 3/5
What could have been "This Is Spinal Tap meets Alan Partridge" doesn’t quite catch fire and Gervais doesn’t fully exploit the big-screen canvas he's been given. But, as a portrait of a tragicomic hero – snigger-inducing yet ultimately heart-warming – it’s an irresistible bit of chilled-out entertainment.
The Hollywood Reporter - Stephen Dalton
Consequently, much of Life on the Road feels like the debut solo album by the lead singer of a once successful band, who is now surrounded by paid session musicians unwilling to challenge the boss over his substandard, self-indulgent coasting. Which, ironically, is pretty much the plot of this film. David Brent remains an enduring comic grotesque, but this sporadically amusing big-screen resurrection is more cash-in reunion tour than killer comeback album.
“David Brent: Life On The Road” should handily eclipse that effort, successfully returning the franchise to its roots in and around the industrial town of Slough, a short but palpable distance west of London. As in the series, location selection and camerawork contribute significantly to the evocation of a particular kind of parochial Britishness.
Digital Spy - Rosie Fletcher - 3/5
Most of the time Gervais stays on the right side of taste and decency, even when Brent doesn't (although one sequence overnight in a hotel is a pretty judgemental 'laugh at the fat bird' gag) but the film as a whole feels mean-spirited. Doc Brown as Dom brings some heart (and talent) but it's not enough to lift things. Life On The Road wants to be This Is Spinal Tap but it lacks the feel-good factor.
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