David Brent – Life On The Road

Bringing back popular comic creations after a number of years is an unenviable task, at least creatively. Often, the result is a pointless, overblown rehash that sometimes even undoes the freshness and good feeling in everything that came before. Proverbially, it's like flogging a dead horse. One movie was perfect for The Inbetweeners, and the Only Fools And Horses "Millennium Trilogy" should never have been made.

Refreshingly, Ricky Gervais has sidestepped this malaise, reprising the role of his original and best alter ego, The Office's David Brent, for a not wholly necessary but still entertaining feature length mockumentary written and directed by its star.

Fans of The Office will remember that one of the series' key selling points was the never fulfilled idealism that bubbled beneath the frustrated surfaces of the Wernham Hogg staff. Brent was the centrepiece of this idealism, the wannabe "chilled out entertainer" who fancied show business but wanted, even needed, the stable job that paid his way, otherwise he would surely spiral off into depression.

While not as bitingly funny or memorably poignant as Gervais's finest TV work could be, Life On The Road at least stays faithful to the central theme and significance of its inspiration. After a jaunty and amusing title tune that unsubtly but skilfully highlights disingenuous job satisfaction, we find an older Brent as a sales rep for Lavichem, an even more unforgiving workplace than Wernham Hogg. There's a sympathetic secretary, a Gareth-esque figure, and a female co-worker who has warmed to Brent, but on the whole there is less tolerance for his antics than he once knew.

Such is the effect of the enhanced cynicism and apathy of the social media age. What can Brent do but try and re-ignite his dreams of musical stardom by going on a self-funded tour of the country with a band... a band of hired hands, who don't even get along with him?

It is a recipe for disaster. And, for Brent at least, the success of the tour is as much a Foregone Conclusion as the all too on-the-nose band name. A combination of cringe-worthy lyrics, no positive stage presence and no tact see to that.

With no subplots or strong supporting characters of note, the life and lessons in the film, of which there are plenty, lie with Brent alone, and his perception of a world that he thinks has done him no favours. The value of playing your cards right and presenting yourself properly, no matter how much musical talent you may have – and many of the tunes themselves are catchy – is clear here.

Perhaps clearer is the opt-repeated but necessary adage of never trying to be someone, or something, you aren't. Brent is still, for almost the entire film, like the guy who cries wolf: we and he feel his sensitivity, but the more one masks their sincerity, the less likely everyone else is to believe it. Even as he tries to bond with the band by paying them to have drinks with him and discussing popular topics, his presence brings only an awkward silence.

It's kind of frightening, really: we're repeatedly encouraged to follow our heart, but are we truly prepared for the realities that come with our dreams? The cold, hard realization of Life On The Road is that life in the spotlight does not involve living in the same bubble as a typical nine-to-five job. Brent has never been as prepared to live the dream as he often lets on: for that reason, he is probably better out of such a cut-throat, unforgiving business. Whether he actually learns anything concrete from the experience is more open to question: but then, that’s really as true to the essence of David Brent as you can get, isn't it?

Simon Fallaha