February 11, 2017

David Brent: Life on the Road


Loved The Office. Loved it so much I was one of those guys who (wrongly, spitefully) turned up my nose at the very existence of the American remake of The Office. But the thing about The Office that sat so well with so many people was that it wrapped itself up neatly after just two six-episode seasons and a two-part Christmas special. (Gotta love the Brits and their brevity. The longest-running British sitcom I can think of is Peep Show, which finally called it quits after... let's see... yeah, 54 episodes in total. Accounting for the half-hour episodes, that whole show had the same runtime from start to finish as the 27-episode first season of The O.C.)

I digress. My point is that Ricky Gervais and company seemed to know when to quit with The Office. Until they decided to bring it back - sort of - thirteen years later. Remember that small-scale redemption arc David Brent went through in the show's finale? Yeah - turns out, thirteen years later, he's still miserable and shallow and incessantly needy. In this movie, he takes a leave of absence from his new job (shitty, where he's no longer even a manager) in order to tour England with a crappy little band. It's funny enough, I guess, and it's always nice to revisit an old beloved show ('memba The Office?) but it doesn't really feel like it adds anything to The Office. Rather, if anything, the existence of this thing detracts from the show's wonderful finale.

It's still a must-see if you're a fan of the show, of course, but I can't imagine anyone seeing this without first seeing The Office and not shuddering.

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