I was excited to see this movie for a number of reasons. I am a big Ricky Gervais fan and consider David Brent from The Office (UK) to be one of the best comedy characters in recent years. I had also read a glowing review from the New York Times for this movie which get's Gervais performance dead on:
"Mr. Gervais gives Bertram many of the same comic tics he brought to David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras: a stammering befuddlement that is simultaneously verbose and nonsensical; sickly smiles and joyless laughs in which his mirth curdles with self-doubt; a tongue-tied staccato; and his special mixture of clueless grandiosity, insensitivity and stifled humiliation."
Gervais is a bit like Hugh Grant for me. He plays one character really well but you can't imagine him playing any other kind of role. Where Grant has mastered the bumbling upper class Englishman, Gervais is King of the scarastic, pleasantly cynical and quick witted everyman. Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear were solid as support but I am biased towards Leoni after her role in one of my favorite films, Family Man.
I did enjoy this movie but I have to say I am not sure it was good as the Times makes out. It was a great flick when you compare it to alot of the stickly sweet sentimental dross that is churned out of Hollywood in the name of romantic comedies these days but that is hardly a compliment. It was a solid 103 minutes of pleasant distraction but it also verged on being one of those movies that you saw all the good gags in the trailer.
Rating: ***
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