david brent: life on the road
What: Ricky Gervais’s new film brings back David Brent, his character from “The Office.”
When: Available Friday.
Where: Netflix.
What: Ricky Gervais’s new film brings back David Brent, his character from “The Office.”
When: Available Friday.
Where: Netflix.
“David Brent: Life on the Road,” the new film from Ricky Gervais on Netflix, is not all you hope it would be. Gervais resurrects the character David Brent from his original version of “The Office.” It’s 12 years later and the former middle-manager is still entertaining dreams of being a rock star.
A cleaning-product salesman now, he is gambling on getting signed to a deal after a self-financed tour, which is going to be documented again by “Office” filmmakers who made Brent a minor star because he was an idiot on the show.
Since then there has been a breakdown and a Prozac addiction; so “Life on the Road” is a meaner, darker place wrapped in desperation for David.
“Failure is not an option,” he tells his therapist, but when she replies it might be, David sees it as her bringing him down.
We meet him at his job where he is reprimanded. He’s always been tone deaf and doesn’t get how his jokes could be offensive. He goes on the road with a band called Foregone Conclusion who talk about how he doesn’t get it and can’t see how bad he is. He calls his music “new romantic, but modern, a bit Bublé, a bit David Essex.”
The closest thing to a friend for David is Dom (Ben Bailey Smith), a rapper with talent. Things go downhill on the tour, including someone getting shot in the face with a T-shirt cannon. Meanwhile, people back in the office, where the filmmakers are still shooting, are sniping at each other.
It is curious why Gervais decided to bring back Brent’s cluelessness into today’s nastier world. He is harmless in some ways, and living in his own fantasy so you feel for him at time.
“Life on the Road” has its moments, some funny, some painful. It’s basically a long strange trip with a sweet ending as David comes to grips with is life.
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