David Brent : Life On The Road

David Brent has been off the small screen since… well, I’m not exactly sure, but I’m pretty confident that it was the same year that Tatu were at number one in the charts, J-LoFleck starred in Gigli, and the UK and US powers that be were feeling good about what was going to be a short little trip across the desert to ‘liberate’ Iraq. A decade plus later, the only one of these that’s still remembered fondly is Brent. And now he’s back, and this time he’s on the big screen, but will he crash down like a statue of a toppled dictator, or keep on running through your head like a pair of Russian lesbians?

I loved The Office. The first time I saw it I thought it was new, interesting, and funny. Very funny in fact, and as such it quite rightly launched Gervais and co into the very top ranks of stardom. Shit – Martin Freeman went on to be not just a hobbit, but THE hobbit, ffs. In the time that has passed, RG has shown off his celebrity chums in Extras, his stand up skills on the stage, and proved that Hollywood can make anyone unfunny. But can he still make everyone’s favourite chilled out entertainer work on the big screen? I needed to know, so I went to see David Brent: Life on the Road.

This time around, we find Brent working and generally being an HR nightmare at a toilet supplies company (how very Carry On… ) whilst getting his band Foregone Conclusion back together for one last shot at the big time. Hilarity ensues as Brent embarks on a whirlwind tour of every Travelodge and town hall from Slough to Reading, to complete with weird looks and tics, awkward comments, and foot-in-mouth conversations. If you are looking forward to some familiar cameos, I’m sorry to disappoint, but there aren’t any. It’s Keenan-less, and Finch-free, I’m afraid. He is instead accompanied by an unwilling but cash-strapped session band, and his token IC3 friend/rapper, played brilliantly by Ben Bailey-Smith, or Doc Brown as he’s better known in the music biz. The supporting cast are great, however, and I’m sure it won’t be too long before they’re too big to be returning for cameos as well.