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Ricky Gervais creation David Brent is back working in another office in Slough, but this time on the Big Screen and critics are trashing it.
David Brent: Life on the Road had its red carpet debut last night and sees Ricky Gervais bring his bumbling office boss back to life, this time with lots of room for musical outings as Brent is now also in a touring band, hence “Life on the Road”.
However it seems Gervais’ real ambition to be a successful musician has coloured the movie making it almost impossible to watch with long ambling scenes of comedy songs taking up huge swathes of screen time.
Critics have gone on to describe the film as a dud, saying that Brent's band Foregone Conclusion is really about Gervais' ambitions to be a singer as much as Brent's.
The Mirror accuses Gervais of also trying to offend for the sake of it, with jokes in the movie referring to Native Americans and people with disabilities as well as a reference to the n-word.
While Den of Geek say that the opening sequence is the peak of the film when Brent brags about “killing it in Widnes”.
Over the pond, The Hollywood Reporter also has a lacklustre review decrying The Office movie as “forced” and that “much of Life on the Road feels like the debut solo album by the lead singer of a once successful band, who is now surrounded by paid session musicians unwilling to challenge the boss over his substandard, self-indulgent coasting. Which, ironically, is pretty much the plot of this film.”
Ricky Gervais is on the cover of this week's NME and the movie is set for release on August 19.
