David Brent: Life on the road "Did you miss me???"

OK, time for a NEW post on this blog in 2017 and this un will be on a recent film, David Brent: Life on the Road, which follows the travels of the inept, cringeworthy yet sympathetic former boss from the show "The Office", David Brent.

This is the first (and probably only) feature film for David Brent but how does it stack up in comparison to the classic TV show???  Well let's find out!

And yep, the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

The film is set 15 years after the documentary "The Office" first appeared on television and it now sees David Brent (Ricky Gervais) as a sales rep for a bathroom supply firm called Lavichem.  Brent is now desparate to revive his music career as he is set on reforming his former band "Foregone Conclusion" although all the original members are no longer around, so Brent now has to pay hired musicians out of his pension money as he is set to go on tour.  Brent also forks out the costs for the tour gigs aswell as paying extra money to a sound engineer, Dan (Tom Basden) to come along and he even includes his friend and rapper, Dom Johnson (Brent Bailey Smith).

Brent however has a mixed response from his work colleagues as most of them can't stand his jokes and behaviour, especially Jezza (Andrew Brooke) a mean spirited salesman although he does have a few sympathetic colleagues, Pauline (Jo Hartley), receptionist Karen (Mandeep Dillon) and fellow sales rep, Nigel (Tom Bennett) who shares the same sense of humour as Brent.  Brent then takes some unpaid leave so that he can go on the tour with his new band.

However as the tour progress things soon go from bad to worse as virtually no one turns up for the gigs and Brent fails to successfully promote his band on a radio show and he finds the band refuse to socialise with him after the gigs as they find him excruciating to be around.  Brent however does manage to successfully contact one record company, who send down a rep to see one of Brent's gigs but the rep, who is more interested in Dom's rapping than Brent's music, which soon causes some resentment from Brent with Dom.

And as the tour nears it end, Brent is left feeling increasingly dejected as he realises the gigs have been a failure and Dan convinces Brent that he should cut his losses and stop spending on the tour and chasing his dream to be a successful musician as he doesn't need to be.  And the film soon culminates with the tour coming to an end and Brent returns back to his work....

THOUGHTS

It has to be said that certain spin-off films from TV shows don't work out that well, however here "Life on the Road" is an exception as it is at times very funny but of course quite cringeworthy to watch as we are once again subjected to Brent's mortifying and socially inept behaviour.  And due to Brent's behaviour and also his questionable music it provides some funny moments throughout.   

The film as gives a bit more insight into Brent as a person as it reveals that he has had emotional problems after his time on "The Office" and also tries to go out of its way to make Brent again appear as a sympathetic character who wants to be liked by everyone but ultimately he has no clue how to go about doing it.  Although in this film, Brent does have a few more allies on his side then he did in the show that also helps make things a bit less bleak for Brent than before.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: not so many notable scenes this time round but still a few plot spoilers!)

As for the performances well they are all pretty good for the most part.

And to start off, Ricky Gervais effortlessly slips back into the role of David Brent and he seems to having a great time playing the part once again after 13 years, although he does overdo Brent's goofy laugh a bit too much in the film! 

Gervais has plenty of funny moments in the film that include the scene where Brent converses with Pauline and Karen at work and he tell thems about one of his band's songs and how the lryics are bit racy for Pauline to handle.  

And Brent starts quoting the lryics "I’ve got one song, it’s about rock and roll, but it’s a metaphor for sex. It goes…"I'm gonna role you over and rock you stupid!  And just leave you there hummin.  There's a party in my trousers, baby and everyone's comin....".  And he goes a bit too far to explain the meaning of "comin" and he then starts to awkwardly say "That sort of coming. Well, not with... But with... You know. Although some women do...squirt.  Don't know what.  Juice!".  

Then there is the funny scene where Brent is quizzed by a radio DJ (Kevin Bishop) who doesn't even let Brent plug the band on air and instead asks him to answer daft questions about sausages or pies.  And afterward Brent, frustrated looks at the camera and says "So, I didn't even mention the gig. And that was the whole point of doing this.  Sixteen tickets sold.  Waste of time!" and Dom adds "And you only got one question on "Sausage or Pie" and Brent angrily shouts "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT SHIT!".  

Another funny scene is when Brent get's a tattoo done on his arm at the suggestion of an agent he hires but he finds the pain of sitting from the tattoo process a bit too much and he even faints as tatooist draws blood.  And Brent says to camera that the tattoo was supposed to read "Berkshire" but he reveals he only got half-way and his tattoo reads "Berk" and he says to camera "It's good, innit? That's there forever!  "You got any tattoos, David?" "Yeah."  "Can I have a look?" "Yeah.".

And lastly there is the funny scene where Brent during a gig says to the crowd "Who wants a T-shirt?" and the crowd says yes and he fires his T-shirt gun, which hits a woman in the face, leaving Brent mortified.  And Brent says after "You play a show, and just when you think it can't get any worse, you shoot a fat girl in the face with a T-shirt gun!".

Ben Bailey Smith is pretty good in his role as the Dom Johnson, Brent's friend and rapper who ends up making more of a success than Brent does in his music.  

Smith has some good moments too and he does well at showing his awkwardness at trying to deal with Brent as his friend while the rest of the band keep their distance from him.  And this is readily apparent in the scene where Brent asks Dom to find out why they won't drink with him.  And Dom asks them and comes back and says to David "They said, um, that you pay for their stage time and rehearsal time, but their time is their own and, um, you're not paying for that".  

So Brent says to Dom to offer them to have a drink with him and he will pay them for their company, so Dom asks them and comes back and says "They said, uh, they'll drink with you for 25 quid an hour each. Um, but you buy the drinks".  

Tom Basden is also good as the sound engineer, Dan, who suffers Brent's antics as they go on tour in a hired bus (paid also by Brent), even though most of the gigs are from a very local distance from the band's homes!  

And Basden's most notable scene is when Dan tells Brent he is best to cut his losses and forget about spending more money on his tour.  

And Brent, who by this time is dejected by the experience of the tour asks Dan "Do you think I'm a pratt?" and Dan awkwardly says "No...I think you're chasing something..." and Brent offers "I can't have" and Dan says "...you don't need!".  And Dan continues "You seem to think that unless you're on stage performing, that people aren't gonna like you" and Brent says "They're probably not" and Dan asks him "Well, then why would you wanna be liked by people like that anyway?".  

And Dan says "You know, you don't have to be on stage to be worth something.  And people who like you are still gonna like you even if you're not performing" and Brent looks down and says "Problem is not a lot of people like me,do they?".  And Dan out of sympathy says to Brent "And... for the record, I like you" and Brent looks up and says "Yeah?" and Dan awkardly says "Don't make me say it again!" and he shakes his hand and walks out.

Jo Hartley next does OK as Pauline, Brent's sympathetic work colleague although her performance is pretty awkward and a bit stilted throughout as she seems to be on the verge of imploding in the part but she does get a bit of credit of course for giving Brent's work nemesis, Jezza a real comeuppance near the end.

Mandeep Dillon is however better in his role as Karen, the receptionist at Lavichem and she makes her character quite sweet and likeable.  Dillon has two good scenes one where she sticks up for Nigel, who is bullied by Jezza after Nigel tries to have a bit of a laugh in the office.  And Karen says to Jezza angrily "Why do you talk to people like that?  Why are you such a bully?!" and Jezza tries to dismiss and says "I'm tryin to fucking work, babe!" and Karen says "Don't care!  So is everyone else.  He's only having a laugh. Look at him!".

And secondly there is the scene where Karen talks to the camera about Brent and how she feels sorry for him and how he is mistreated by his other work colleagues.  And Karen says to camera "

I feel... I do quite feel sorry for him, to be honest.  The boys here, they're quite rude to him.
And I know he's obviously gone on this tour and he's doing all that, but I kinda feel like...Sorry, I don't know why I'm getting emotional.  I just feel like...I can see through it sometimes.  His smiles.  I hope he does well".  

Tom Bennett does OK as Nigel, Brent's work colleague, although he is a bit annoying to be honest as he tries to ape Brent's humour but he doesn't do it quite as successfully.  However Bennett still has some good moments such as his scene to camera where he applauds Brent and says "What resilience from a human being. I've never known anyone like him!".

Andrew Brooke does well in his role as Jezza, the office bully at Lavichem and he does a good job at making his character suitably loathsome for the audience to watch.  And Brooke's most notable scene is where Jezza jibs at Brent after his tour his finished and he teases Brent by saying "Simon Cowell, didn't sign you up then?" and his co-workers laugh, leaving Brent looking unimpressed and hiding resentment by saying "Banter".  

And Brent says to Jezza "I might be a rep for the rest of my life, but...I was a rock star once" and Jezza cruelly says "Useless prick now though, ain't you?" and his co-workers again laugh but then (SPOILER!!!!) a furious Pauline storms up and throws a cup of water in Jezza's face and she angrily says "What are you good at, eh?!! Nothing!".  

And last of all Andy Burrows, Stephen and Michael Clarke and Stuart Wilkinson all do well as the band members of Foregone Conclusion and their pieces to camera fittingly show their embarrassement toward Brent's outlandish behaviour.

DIRECTION AND MUSIC

Moving onto the director, Ricky Gervais does a good job with the film although the pacing is a little slow at times but he does know his character inside out and he does a fairly good job at presenting the film and producing some cringe-inducing laughs throughout.  

As for the music well.....its a mixed bag really isn't it?! Brent's songs are for the most part pretty awful but deliberately so of course, which means they do provide some good laughs aswell although curiously enough "Free love freeway" never properly features in the whole film!  

But of the songs that do appear ones that are notable include "Native American" where Brent makes a pretty racially questionable song about the American natives.  And Brent's chorus words are "Oh, oh, Native American.  Soar like an eagle, sit like a pelican!".  

Then there is "Slough" in which Brent boasts that the lyrics in the song regarding the town of Slough are "factually accurate".  And the lyrics include gems such as "The station's just got a new floor, and the motorway runs by your door.  And you know just where you're headin'.  It's equidistant t'ween London and Reading!".

And lastly "Please don't make fun of the disableds" which again features some rather questionable sounding lyrics, which Brent sings at one of the gigs to a thoroughly bemused crowd.  And the chorus goes "Oh, please don't make fun of the disabled.  There's nothing funny about those.  Whether mental in the head, or mental in the legs, doesn't mean their sorrow doesn't show. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, no, no, no!".

FLAWS

As for Life on the Road's flaws.....yep there are some.

And to kick off, I think Gervais does go out of his way to kick Brent's character and leave him virtually down and out as things go on, he does overdo it maybe just a bit much as he is always keens to show Brent as a man on the edge of dispair.  There is of course a happier ending for Brent at the end of the film (although I won't really mention it here!) but what he has to go through seems a bit rough.  

And further to that point I think Gervais does make some of the supporting characters a bit mean-spirited although this is a theme of his comedy, which can feature some pretty unsympathetic bullying characters such as Jezza here and Finch from "The Office".  But this even includes Brent's band members, who refuse to even sit and have a drink with him and when they do they insist that not only he pay for their time with him but he also pay their drinks!  I mean what a selfish bunch of bastards, eh?!!  

I also felt it was a bit strange how they decided not to include Brent's most notable song "Free love freeway" in the actual tour scenes of the film itself as it turns out that its his most decent song yet it doesn't even feature here!  Maybe they wanted to show as Brent deciding to promote newer material or maybe Gervais left out that song as he wanted Brent to have no chance of success in the music industry.  

Another issue I had was to do with the extent of Brent's sympathetic work colleagues such as Pauline, who has a soft spot for David but her relationship with him appears so awkward that it looks like she might want to implode every time she is in the room with Brent!  Her relationship with Brent ultimately also looks like it won't work out given that they are so different and she appears as too quiet a foil for his outlandish personality.   

And the same could be said for Karen, the receptionist as she appears to really cringe at Brent's attemps at humour earlier on in the film but then in one scene to camera she claims that she finds Brent to be "funny" but if she does then we must have missed that scene out!  Her sympathy for Brent is convincing though and it does lead to a nice moment where Karen becomes a little emotional when she says she can see through Brent's smiles when he takes the hurtful insults of his co-workers. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summing up, "David Brent: Life on the Road" is a funny, enjoyable and at times charming comedy that has its moments of utter total cringeworthiness but for the most part it does succeed in seeing Brent make his transition to the big screen, although whether or not they will do a sequel or not remains to be seen.

And yes it isn't perfect and does have some flaws as I already mentioned but its still worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of "The Office" but just don't expect to see any of the original Office cast here (as they aren't!).

Right, so that's it from me for now and I'll be back on soon with another un for you's.  

Till then its bye fer now.