Being a huge Ricky Gervais fan, particularly because of The Office, part of me couldn't wait for this film, but the other part of me had its reservations. And as was the case with Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, I feared the TV to film transition might be a bit of an obstacle, and this unfortunately seemed to be the case.
The film starts well with the laughs cumin (ask me how I'm spelling it. C-U-M-I-N) every few seconds, introducing us to his new office and from the get-go, we establish who will play which role in the film - the love interest, the bad guy (if they can be called that), the geeky, lovable friend, and so on. These roles stay consistent, rarely challenging the audiences' expectations, moving forward a predictable narrative throughout the film. That being said, twists and turns weren't necessarily expected and the pay-offs at the end were still warmly welcomed and, as with The Office finale, quite emotional.
Having started strongly, the film slows down quite considerably in the middle third, without a lot of story and/or complications. It really becomes a montage of failures for Brent where he is almost always the butt of every joke. And as the film progresses, Brent goes from typical Brent - arrogant yet embarrassing - to pathetic, to just feeling sorry for him. And at times when we're supposed to be laughing at him, I just felt like I couldn't bring myself to laugh at him anymore. It's at this point that he strays from the character of David Brent in a film which could have easily been renamed Derek: Life on the Road. The film becomes very much an emotionally-driven experience at the expense of humour. The emotional elements of the film in the last 20 or so minutes were strong however, but they just felt a bit too sad for the spin-off of one of the most loved UK comedy characters of all time. It cannot be disputed, however, that we do not see a concluding development of Brent as a person, because to see the more human side to Brent was refreshing.
The cast of the film, unlike The Office, which consisted of largely unknown actors at the time, consists of almost every actor in a UK sitcom in the last 5 years and a handful of comedy panelists. Ricky does act brilliantly in this (although his vocal exhale/laugh combination does start to get a bit annoying after the 50th time of hearing it). Mandeep Dhillon, as the receptionist, was brilliant and did a great job of maintaining the documentary feel and therefore the real emotion of the film and of the character of David Brent towards the end. Doc Brown as Dom was also very good and I'm glad he was so involved after their Comic Relief single 'Equality Street' a few years back. The songs used throughout, as released in an album alongside the film, are so funny yet also brilliant melodically.
It's a must-watch for any David Brent fan, and as much as I'd love to give it more than a 7 (I gave The Office a perfect 10), the title song summarises the experience quite nicely - foot down to the floor, the film only ever gets to 70 miles per hour and no more.
The film starts well with the laughs cumin (ask me how I'm spelling it. C-U-M-I-N) every few seconds, introducing us to his new office and from the get-go, we establish who will play which role in the film - the love interest, the bad guy (if they can be called that), the geeky, lovable friend, and so on. These roles stay consistent, rarely challenging the audiences' expectations, moving forward a predictable narrative throughout the film. That being said, twists and turns weren't necessarily expected and the pay-offs at the end were still warmly welcomed and, as with The Office finale, quite emotional.
Having started strongly, the film slows down quite considerably in the middle third, without a lot of story and/or complications. It really becomes a montage of failures for Brent where he is almost always the butt of every joke. And as the film progresses, Brent goes from typical Brent - arrogant yet embarrassing - to pathetic, to just feeling sorry for him. And at times when we're supposed to be laughing at him, I just felt like I couldn't bring myself to laugh at him anymore. It's at this point that he strays from the character of David Brent in a film which could have easily been renamed Derek: Life on the Road. The film becomes very much an emotionally-driven experience at the expense of humour. The emotional elements of the film in the last 20 or so minutes were strong however, but they just felt a bit too sad for the spin-off of one of the most loved UK comedy characters of all time. It cannot be disputed, however, that we do not see a concluding development of Brent as a person, because to see the more human side to Brent was refreshing.
The cast of the film, unlike The Office, which consisted of largely unknown actors at the time, consists of almost every actor in a UK sitcom in the last 5 years and a handful of comedy panelists. Ricky does act brilliantly in this (although his vocal exhale/laugh combination does start to get a bit annoying after the 50th time of hearing it). Mandeep Dhillon, as the receptionist, was brilliant and did a great job of maintaining the documentary feel and therefore the real emotion of the film and of the character of David Brent towards the end. Doc Brown as Dom was also very good and I'm glad he was so involved after their Comic Relief single 'Equality Street' a few years back. The songs used throughout, as released in an album alongside the film, are so funny yet also brilliant melodically.
It's a must-watch for any David Brent fan, and as much as I'd love to give it more than a 7 (I gave The Office a perfect 10), the title song summarises the experience quite nicely - foot down to the floor, the film only ever gets to 70 miles per hour and no more.