Ricky Gervais. Chances are you'll either love him or hate him. And, basically, your enjoyment of his latest film 'David Brent: Life on the Road' will largely depend on whether you're a fan, or find him excruciatingly annoying. Like most people, they 'found' Gervais during his award-winning BBC sitcom 'The Office' where he played the self-proclaimed 'chilled out entertainer' David Brent (or 'boss from hell' as the rest of the world referred to him as). So, if you're a fan of either the character, or the cringe-worthy humour he specialises in.

There's always that worry when a good show which is usually half an hour is suddenly dragged out for a feature length movie's runtime that it's going to dip in places and fall flat in others. I'm pleased to say that 'David Brent: Life on the Road' does not suffer from this (too much). Yes, I loved The Office and have followed Gervais' career ever since, so I was crossing my fingers for the best. This film does deliver. It serves as a 'sequel' to the part of The Office which was about Brent's life. If you watched the series then you'll know about his dreams and aspirations to become more than the manager of a paper merchant in Slough.

'The Office' was a 'mockumentary' about the life of the workers in Slough and now we have follow-up documentary about – arguably – the 'star' of the fictional show 'David Brent.' We meet him now after he's long since left Wernom Hogg and is now a – much ridiculed – sales rep who travels up and down the country peddling his less-than-necessary wares. However, he still dreams of becoming the next big thing in music and, rather than go on X-Factor as most people who share his ideals seem to, has sunk all his life savings into promoting his own musical band.

What we see is a depressing take on humanity's desire for fame without the talent to back it up. Gervais has already (majorly!) touched on these subjects in his other TV show 'Extras,' but we witness a man who is more ambition than talent. He won't accept that he'll never have the fame and fortune he craves and, even when it's staring him in the face, he will adjust his perception of reality to suit the situation. What we get out of it is the knowing that he'll never be what he wants and, despite probably not wanting to associate with a man like this, we can't quite bring ourselves to hate him because we know that he'll never achieve or 'win' the fame and adulation he craves.

'David Brent: Life on the Road' is a good little compendium piece to 'The Office.' I guess it is a little stretched and sometimes it feels like there should be one or two jokes more than there is, but, overall, it stands up on its own. Sometimes there are more heart-wrenching moments than laughs, but they add depth to the film and make it a little deeper than a straight-up comedy.

Many people have moaned that there are no other 'Office' characters in it from the British version, but the new characters we meet along the way should – slightly – make up for that. I'm sure we've met one or two of them in offices up and down the country from time to time.

Not as good as The Office, but, then again, what is? Still solid. Maybe a feature length Extras next?

I was in two minds about David Brent: Life on the Road when I first heard about it. I absolutely adore THE OFFICE but I fully realise it was made over 15 years ago, when the idea was fresh and novel. Ricky Gervais has subsequently made stuff I wasn't so keen on (EXTRAS and LIFE'S TOO SHORT were watchable but I didn't even bother with DEREK) so I had no idea what to expect from this.

Viewers should note that this is an OFFICE spin-off rather than follow up; the biggest disappointment is that none of the cast of THE OFFICE return aside from Gervais. However, Brent is such a larger-than-life character that it doesn't really matter, and he has an all-new office of characters to support him here. Jo Hartley, of THIS IS ENGLAND fame, brings some surprising warmth to her part of one of his few allies.

Most of the film takes the form of a road trip in which Brent and his band mate buddies go on various gigs around the country, seeking fame and fortune. Gervais is a pretty good singer but he chooses the dumbest lyrics for his songs in order to embarrass his character. And this is a film all about embarrassment and cringe-making scenes, as you'd expect. A lot of the jokes are familiar from THE OFFICE, but somehow it's fun to see Brent back to being the brunt of all the hatred again. Ben Bailey Smith gives the stand-out turn as the rapper that Brent teams up with. I'm not sure about the random Hollywood ending stuff but the rest of the film is a nice reminder of what made Brent such a compelling character in the first place.

David Brent (Ricky Gervais) gained a little notoriety from the BBC2 documentary The Office. The film crew has caught up with him once again. He now aspires to be a singer-songwriter in between doing sales calls. His band is called Foregone Conclusion. He is now working at Lavichem selling toilet products. He continues to be the same clueless self-obsessed idiot as before. He signed half-black rapper Dom Johnson and starts writing for him. He decides to spend all his money to go on tour with his music.

Brent in an office continues to be good comedy. When he's on his concert tour, the comedy becomes flatter and more one dimensional. Everybody is smarter than him and sees the idiocy of his songs. Some of the songs are actually good in its fun stupidity. This is for those who love the original Office but also those who like Gervais' brand of comedy.