David Brent: Life On The Road

The Office is one of the few British TV series that has been elevated to ‘godlike’ status in recent years. Critical acclaim for the series was immediate, the awards just kept rolling in and it turned Ricky Gervais from an unknown comedian into one of the world’s biggest stars. It was shown all over the world and eventually spawned 7 other international versions, the most famous being the American series that launched Steve Carell’s career.

“Holding a score of 98/100 on Metacritic and being the first ever British comedy to win a Golden Globe, The Office truly is a phenomenon.”

15 years later, its looked at as perhaps the greatest British export of the 21st century. Holding a score of 98/100 on Metacritic and being the first ever British comedy to win a Golden Globe, The Office truly is a phenomenon. Its beautiful mixture of awkwardness, comedy and bittersweet poignant moments make it a rollercoaster of a watch — and for a programme set almost entirely in one grey room, that’s quite impressive. It also features what could be the most beautiful ending to any sitcom ever — so much so that Gervais refused to follow the typical British route of making “one more Christmas special” a few years later.

Until now.

In 2011, the David Brent character was resurrected for a ten-minute Comic Relief sketch and since then, desire for more of the character has grown. Following a few short outings here and there, Gervais announced a full return of the character in 2014, in the form of a feature-length film following the journey of the former office manager as he attempts to make it as a rockstar.

For those of you unaware of the backstory, the seed of Brent’s rock ‘credentials’ was planted way back in series one of the programme, when he performed the classic track Freelove Freeway in front of his workmates. He went on to tell the crew that he used to perform in a band called Foregone Conclusion — in the film, the band reunites (albeit with different members) to propel Brent to superstardom. Or, at least, thats what he thinks.

The film begins with a quick catchup with Brent. After being fired as boss of paper merchants Wernham Hogg back in 2003, he now works as a rep for Lavichem, a cleaning and professional product company based in Slough. He’s no longer a boss, and his new workmates are a little less accepting of his somewhat ‘eccentric’ ways than his old ones.

After learning just enough about his workmates to hate most of them, we follow Brent as he takes 3 weeks unpaid holiday from his job to embark on a self-funded ‘tour’ with his band Foregone Conclusion. Tour is in inverted commas, because all of the dates are in Berkshire — and despite the proximity to his home, Brent insists on him and the band staying in hotels throughout to complete the ‘tour experience’.

Reaction to the band is lukewarm at best, and the tour isn’t going as expected for Brent. The band members seem to dislike him, he’s spent £20k and earned almost zero back, and he hasn’t got the record deal that he so desperately wished for. Eventually though, through what appears to be a mixture of pity and sympathy, the band warm to him and even claim that it was probably the most fun they’ve ever had on tour.

After the tour, Brent is emotional. He says that even though the tour didn’t go exactly as he’d expected, at least he’d given it a go and tried to pursue his dream.

“Even if I spend the rest of my life as a rep, at least I’ve also been a rockstar.”

I won’t lie — almost the entire film is predictable. It’s pretty obvious as soon as it starts what is about to happen. Brent is going to be a buffoon. He’s going to seem like a bit of a dick. The tour is going to fail. The bandmates who at one point couldn’t stand to be around him, in the end are going to buy him a pint and hang out. The arsehole workmates are going to get their comeuppance, and Brent’s going to have a somewhat happy ending (we’ll get to that in a while..).

This is all fairly obvious. But somehow, it still has a really lovely effect. The film is full of laughs, full of awkward moments and full of the comedy that you would expect from a David Brent film. But it’s also full of genuinely thought-provoking moments.

His vulnerability is on full view for a lot of the film. His need to be liked by his friends, peers and indeed strangers proves his downfall — he is being someone that he isn’t. He’s not a rockstar and, despite thinking otherwise, he isn’t born to be one. At one point, he calls a workmate to tell him how depressed he feels and you can tell that all Brent really wants is friends and for people to like him.

In the most tender of moments, Brent tearfully remarks at how sometimes you can want something so much that you truly begin to think that its the only thing that matters — but that soon enough, something else will come along and change your mind completely. It foreshadows the end of the film, in which Brent takes a female co-worker (who is painted from the start as a love interest and clearly has a soft spot for him) out for a coffee. He thought he wanted to be a rockstar, but all he really wants is the love and affection of other humans, and you leave the cinema praying that he gets it from her.

That’s not to say that it’s not a comedy film, because it really is. Most of the laughs come from the brilliant and mostly outrageous lyrics from the songs that the band performs.

It is, without doubt, one of the better comedy films of the year. It’s far more subtle than your typical Seth Rogen style comedy, and probably requires a lot more effort to watch. This film is brilliantly, brilliantly funny (although I would advise watching the original series before you go).

The aim of the film, much like the original series, is for the audience to feel genuine sympathy for this man. While there are so many parts of the film that make him look a total buffoon, by the end you’re desperately hoping that he can be happy. Ok, it might not have a particularly original plot or much of a brilliant story arc but it brings a lot of laughs, and even a few tears. If a film can take you through both extremes in just 96 minutes, then it’s a damn good film.

The original series had a happy ending, with Brent finding love. While that relationship didn’t last, we can only hope that this new one does. Brent deserves it.