People Just Do Nothing. (15.)
Directed by Jack Clough
Starring Allan Mustafa, Hugo Chegwin, Asim Chaudhry, Steve Stamp, Lily Brazier and Hitomi Suomo. In cinemas. 97 mins
The Office is a British TV classic and David Brent is one of the all-time great sitcom characters. But, that said, if you had a time machine wouldn't you be tempted to nip back and very gently bump off Ricky Gervais and nip the pestilence of mockumentary cringe coms in the bud? The Brent variant has swept through TV comedy and imposed a hideous uniformity. All those wan smiles and desperate looks into the camera; they make one crave to once more hear the strains of canned laughter and honeyI'mhome. (With its mix of traditional multiple camera staging in front of a studio audience and Brechtian distancing devices, Mrs Brown's Boys is the most innovative sitcom on telly.)
Because it had a really great title and was widely recommended I always meant to try and get into People Just Do Nothing, the story of five chancers trying to make a go of a pirate radio station, Kurupt FM. But always after a few minutes, I'd give up because the performers seemed to be following the Gervais playbook too closely. It was to The Office, what the Brittas Empire was to Fawlty Towers.
After five series it's made it on to the big screen and as a traditionalist, it heartens me that it has gone down the same route as the cinema versions of On The Buses and Are You Being Served by sending the cast off on holiday. (I guess it's also following David Brent: Life On The Road.) Hearing that one of their tunes is being used on a Japanese gameshow they are flown out to Tokyo to make it big.
The parochial nature of British sitcom characters has generally been the main obstacle for cinema versions but the crew of Brentford's biggest pirate radio station look pretty good up there. They are all self-deluding simpletons (all Gareth and Brents, no Dawns and Tims) but they are rounded enough not to be caricatures. Maybe the humour's a touch broader here but it is much funnier than the bits I saw on TV.
The film's struggle though is the eternal conundrum of keeping it real. After a really brisk and engaging opening half-hour, the film gets bogged down in a familiar tale of manipulative music biz sleaze, Kurupt being corrupted, and a lot of the fun goes out of it.
Directed by Jack Clough
Starring Allan Mustafa, Hugo Chegwin, Asim Chaudhry, Steve Stamp, Lily Brazier and Hitomi Suomo. In cinemas. 97 mins
The Office is a British TV classic and David Brent is one of the all-time great sitcom characters. But, that said, if you had a time machine wouldn't you be tempted to nip back and very gently bump off Ricky Gervais and nip the pestilence of mockumentary cringe coms in the bud? The Brent variant has swept through TV comedy and imposed a hideous uniformity. All those wan smiles and desperate looks into the camera; they make one crave to once more hear the strains of canned laughter and honeyI'mhome. (With its mix of traditional multiple camera staging in front of a studio audience and Brechtian distancing devices, Mrs Brown's Boys is the most innovative sitcom on telly.)
Because it had a really great title and was widely recommended I always meant to try and get into People Just Do Nothing, the story of five chancers trying to make a go of a pirate radio station, Kurupt FM. But always after a few minutes, I'd give up because the performers seemed to be following the Gervais playbook too closely. It was to The Office, what the Brittas Empire was to Fawlty Towers.
After five series it's made it on to the big screen and as a traditionalist, it heartens me that it has gone down the same route as the cinema versions of On The Buses and Are You Being Served by sending the cast off on holiday. (I guess it's also following David Brent: Life On The Road.) Hearing that one of their tunes is being used on a Japanese gameshow they are flown out to Tokyo to make it big.
The parochial nature of British sitcom characters has generally been the main obstacle for cinema versions but the crew of Brentford's biggest pirate radio station look pretty good up there. They are all self-deluding simpletons (all Gareth and Brents, no Dawns and Tims) but they are rounded enough not to be caricatures. Maybe the humour's a touch broader here but it is much funnier than the bits I saw on TV.
The film's struggle though is the eternal conundrum of keeping it real. After a really brisk and engaging opening half-hour, the film gets bogged down in a familiar tale of manipulative music biz sleaze, Kurupt being corrupted, and a lot of the fun goes out of it.
