40
Ricky Gervais very much plays the hits in an undercooked but occasionally funny big screen revival that suffers from a crippling case of de ja vu. Brent’s last goodbye? You’d hope so.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
A late third-act turn into sentimental territory, in which the original show’s misanthropy is sugared up, may feel artificial to viewers drawn to the series’ persistent despairing streak; still, it makes a certain sense given that the film would otherwise entirely lack an emotional arc.
70
Screen International by Charles Gant
While Gervais returns often to the same comedic well, he’s adept at transforming simple miscues into horrific spirals of embarrassment.
40
It’s a rehash that neither develops the character nor betrays him. It simply assumes that we still share his weaknesses and therefore care about the fool.
60
As a comedy creation, David Brent is still a masterwork, and the film works best when the pathos hits as hard as the punchlines. But Life on the Road should probably be the leaving party we all thought had been thrown a few times already.
80
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
Happily, what’s in no short supply is the same mix of uproarious failure and sledgehammer pathos that Brent at his best was always all about.
40
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
David Brent remains an enduring comic grotesque, but this sporadically amusing big-screen resurrection is more cash-in reunion tour than killer comeback album.
60
It mostly holds together, but you'd have to hope that David Brent: Life on the Road represents the farewell tour.
60
Time Out London by Tom Huddleston
Being stuck in a cinema with David Brent for 96 minutes can be trying (the lazy ending doesn’t help). But when Gervais is on an improvisational roll, Brent digging himself deeper and deeper into some awful pit of social awkwardness, we can’t help but remember why we love to hate them both.