You can take a man out of his awkward boss role, but you can’t take the awkward boss role out of the man. Not when that man is David Brent (Ricky Gervais), anyway. In the new trailer for David Brent: Life on the Road, we see—yeah—what happened to—haha!—our favorite uncool supervisor of paper product production.
There’s something heartening about seeing the most awkward people follow their dreams, even as it somewhat undercuts the inherent sadness that made the original The Office so great. A man who clearly wants to be cool, forever stuck in a position where he never will be, is a tragedy; finally given the opportunity, and the chance to blow it big-time, “travesty” may be a better word. Either way, David Brent’s obliviousness remains our entertainment. Now a sales rep for what appears to be a brush company, he’s also out on the road fronting a band appropriately named “Foregone Conclusion,” and his bandmates seem just as bewildered as his former white-collar subordinates.
Per Empire, the movie bows theatrically in the UK August 19th, and will be available stateside on Netflix first; the songs are contributed by Razorlight’s Andy Burrows and rapper Doc Brown. Alas, according to imdb so far, there won’t be any cameo by creepy, awkward Gareth, but realistically, none of us expects his further exploits would be as grand.
Will David finally be a role model for swinging big, regardless of the outcome? Will fame—or something like it—ever change his awkward ways? We’ll find out soon enough, but let’s have your predictions in comments.
Images: BBC Films
