David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Absolutely Fantastic

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

13 years after the end of the beloved sitcom, The Office, David Brent is still stuck in an office, but a documentary crew is filming him again and he decides to go on tour with a band in a last-ditch attempt to live his dreams of being a rock-star. Like most films connected to TV shows, this is annoying since it doesn't connect to the show enough, with Gareth, Tim and Dawn disappointingly absent. Ricky Gervais was never the most impressive actor in The Office, but he gives a good (If often irritating) tragicomic performance here. This film serves as an interesting exploration of the character and has many good laughs and touching character moments along the way; it humanizes David Brent, though don't worry it also embarrasses him and every opportunity. The trouble is, there's a line between comedy and sadism and after a funny first half, the film just gets extremely uncomfortable and stops being enjoyable. The Office was quite depressing. Extras was incredibly depressing. But this- wow. Be warned: you will cringe. A lot. The original show had enough realism and honesty to pull off the cringe, as it felt so truthful but here the uncomfortable stuff goes too far. I can tell Stephen Merchant was the one who added the nuance that made the sitcom so good. With Gervais on his own, there's no-one to stop him from taking the cringe comedy too far. Even so, while he's clearly not as good as he was, there's no denying that this is a funny and often enjoyable road movie with some nice bits of drama. 6/10

I liked this comedy and i find it sad that many people are bashing it. It has many funny moments throughout and it is also giving a message at the same time. Probably those who didn't like it were comparing it to the Office and there are similarities of course but this is different it is a movie and it is a romantic comedy actually. I do recommend it especially for people who like Ricky and his style it's all there all what you need to get the best of him. Even the songs are nice and catchy.

Ricky Gervais. Chances are you'll either love him or hate him. And, basically, your enjoyment of his latest film 'David Brent: Life on the Road' will largely depend on whether you're a fan, or find him excruciatingly annoying. Like most people, they 'found' Gervais during his award-winning BBC sitcom 'The Office' where he played the self-proclaimed 'chilled out entertainer' David Brent (or 'boss from hell' as the rest of the world referred to him as). So, if you're a fan of either the character, or the cringe-worthy humour he specialises in.There's always that worry when a good show which is usually half an hour is suddenly dragged out for a feature length movie's runtime that it's going to dip in places and fall flat in others. I'm pleased to say that 'David Brent: Life on the Road' does not suffer from this (too much). Yes, I loved The Office and have followed Gervais' career ever since, so I was crossing my fingers for the best. This film does deliver. It serves as a 'sequel' to the part of The Office which was about Brent's life. If you watched the series then you'll know about his dreams and aspirations to become more than the manager of a paper merchant in Slough.'The Office' was a 'mockumentary' about the life of the workers in Slough and now we have follow-up documentary about – arguably – the 'star' of the fictional show 'David Brent.' We meet him now after he's long since left Wernom Hogg and is now a – much ridiculed – sales rep who travels up and down the country peddling his less-than-necessary wares. However, he still dreams of becoming the next big thing in music and, rather than go on X-Factor as most people who share his ideals seem to, has sunk all his life savings into promoting his own musical band.What we see is a depressing take on humanity's desire for fame without the talent to back it up. Gervais has already (majorly!) touched on these subjects in his other TV show 'Extras,' but we witness a man who is more ambition than talent. He won't accept that he'll never have the fame and fortune he craves and, even when it's staring him in the face, he will adjust his perception of reality to suit the situation. What we get out of it is the knowing that he'll never be what he wants and, despite probably not wanting to associate with a man like this, we can't quite bring ourselves to hate him because we know that he'll never achieve or 'win' the fame and adulation he craves.'David Brent: Life on the Road' is a good little compendium piece to 'The Office.' I guess it is a little stretched and sometimes it feels like there should be one or two jokes more than there is, but, overall, it stands up on its own. Sometimes there are more heart-wrenching moments than laughs, but they add depth to the film and make it a little deeper than a straight-up comedy.Many people have moaned that there are no other 'Office' characters in it from the British version, but the new characters we meet along the way should – slightly – make up for that. I'm sure we've met one or two of them in offices up and down the country from time to time.Not as good as The Office, but, then again, what is? Still solid. Maybe a feature length Extras next?

David Brent (Ricky Gervais) gained a little notoriety from the BBC2 documentary The Office. The film crew has caught up with him once again. He now aspires to be a singer-songwriter in between doing sales calls. His band is called Foregone Conclusion. He is now working at Lavichem selling toilet products. He continues to be the same clueless self-obsessed idiot as before. He signed half-black rapper Dom Johnson and starts writing for him. He decides to spend all his money to go on tour with his music.Brent in an office continues to be good comedy. When he's on his concert tour, the comedy becomes flatter and more one dimensional. Everybody is smarter than him and sees the idiocy of his songs. Some of the songs are actually good in its fun stupidity. This is for those who love the original Office but also those who like Gervais' brand of comedy.