Finally watched Ricky Gervais's Life on the Road.
The BBC Office is maybe my favorite show of all time. There wasn't a lot of good buzz around Life on the Road so I put off watching it. The criticisms were that it was 90% solid David Brent cringe, but without the charm and humanity and emotion of the series (perhaps because Gervais did it solo without Stephen Merchant).
I had a different experience watching it. I thought it added a lot to the David Brent character. Yes, it was sad, (and often hilariously cringey) that this character was unable to build on the self improvements he seemed to make at the end of the Office. But he had slightly more moments of self-awareness here, which made it even more sad. And I'm not sure if this was intended, but at the end, I felt like everyone around him was being a dick and that I'd much rather be friends with David Brent than any of the tools around him any day. And he does get a little redemption. In the end, I don't think this character ever really wanted to be a rock star, he just sadly thought that was the only way for him to gain the comradery and acceptance he longed for. When he had that, as an office manager, he was able to let the rock star dreams go. Without that job, he found no other way to get those things other than literally paying people to hang out with him. So the whole thing was uncomfortably dark, which made it a compelling watch. Just like the BBC Office, the movie plays much better if you see it as a sad story, rather than a pure pointing as someone and laughing at them kind of comedy.
And some of his songs were catchy. I'd like to karaoke this one someday.
Please Don't Make Fun Of The Disableds by David Brent - YouTube