Review: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's 'Life's Too Short' comes to HBO
'The Office' duo underwhelm with yet another celebrity-related mockumentary
- Critic's Rating C+
- Readers' Rating B
Ricky Gervais and Warwick Davis in "Life's Too Short."
Credit: HBO
When Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's showbiz satire "Extras" was coming to the end of its second and final season on HBO, Gervais told me that he felt he and Merchant had, between that show and the original "The Office," done as much as they could with the notion of people who will do anything to be famous.
"We're never going to do anything to do with media again," he told me, explaining that they were probably going to be done with it after "The Office," until they realized their newfound celebrity gave them a chance to do one more story on a higher level featuring cameos from their new pals. "It seemed right. We were fresh to it and we thought we had a fresh approach to it. We never would have done it if we couldn't find a new angle. There's no point in telling someone something twice. It's worth exploring the same themes -- relationships, wasting your life -- all of those things are worth because they're fundamental. It's not like humans have moved on, you know, 'We're going to give up relationships.' But we've pretty much, that's our Picasso blue period -- that's our fame period."
As it turned out, Gervais and Merchant weren't quite done with their fame period, after all. That second season of "Extras" was followed by a Christmas special that repeated some of the satiric points they had made on in the regular episodes, albeit at greater length and with more of a dramatic bent. And now the two have created "Life's Too Short," yet another mockumentary about a man — little person actor Warwick Davis (the lead Ewok in "Return of the Jedi" and Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter films, among other roles), playing a debased version of himself — willing to suffer endless humiliation to hang onto his incredibly modest level of celebrity. (The first season already aired in the UK, and it debuts Sunday night at 10:30 on HBO.)
At the TV critics press tour last month, Merchant explained that they often declare they're done with something forever "because we're exhausted and we can't think that we could ever go back to that subject." And Gervais added that the pursuit of celebrity has become "much more aggressive" since they last dealt with the subject, and that as a result they had more to say.
The "Extras" special wound up being so strong that I was glad to see them revisit that territory. But three episodes of "Life's Too Short" suggests that, while the nature of celebrity may have evolved, Gervais and Merchant's take on it really hasn't. It's a mash-up of elements from the two previous series: the celebrity cameos (including regular appearances by Gervais and Merchant playing themselves) and relentless debasement of "Extras" mixed with Davis playing himself as David Brent, reeking of desperation and utterly lacking in self-awareness.
This version of Davis has all the real-life Davis' screen credits — which he'll gladly bring up in conversation to anyone skeptical about the idea that he was "a movie star" — but is in dire financial straits, thanks largely to the spectacular ineptitude of his accountant, who is to this show what Merchant's clueless agent was to "Extras." To pay off a massive tax bill, Davis not only agrees to star in a documentary about his life and career, but sets up a talent agency for his fellow actors of small stature, even though he bogarts the best (read: all) jobs for himself.
The show inevitably tells a lot of jokes about his size, from the title itself to Davis struggling to reach the buzzer at Gervais and Merchant's office to Davis falling out of his Hummer while trying to climb out gracefully. But the most out-of-proportion element to the man is his oversized, delusional ego.
"Normally you see a dwarf on TV and he's dancing, making a fool of himself," Davis explains in one talking head interview. "I want them to see a sophisticated dwarf about town, who carries himself with dignity. I'm a role model. I'm a bit like Martin Luther King."
It's such a David Brent kind of monologue that it becomes distracting when Davis shares scenes with Gervais. (I kept waiting for Gervais to complain that Davis was stealing his bit.) But beyond that, it feels like there's a diminishing level of returns for this character, in this style. Gervais and Merchant wisely only made 12 episodes of "The Office" U.K., plus a Christmas special, and the extreme cluelessness of Brent could have easily gotten tired after that. (The NBC remake wisely recognized that its boss couldn't be quite so vile, and they got seven mostly-strong seasons out of the more human Michael Scott.)
Though there are some good jokes here and there about the humiliations a little person actor has to endure on your average movie set, for the most part, the biggest laughs have little to do with Davis and everything to do with the celebrity guests. In the second episode, Johnny Depp hires Davis to help research a role in a film about Rumpelstiltskin, and the actor gets to play a jittery, exaggerated version of what I think many of us imagine him to be like off-camera. (He could not be any more excited watching Davis just move.)
And there's a five-minute scene near the end of Sunday's premiere in which a bullying, absolutely humorless Liam Neeson asks Gervais to practice improv comedy with him that has put me in tears from laughing every time I've seen it. It's also a scene that has virtually nothing to do with Warwick Davis, who just happens to be in the room where it's taking place. It almost feels like a sketch Gervais and Merchant wanted to do that they had no other venue for, and so they stuck it in "Life's Too Short" and gave Davis a couple of lines to vaguely justify its presence.
Between "The Office," the second season of "Extras" and their podcast with pal/victim Karl Pilkington, Gervais and Merchant have earned a place at/near the top of the comedy pyramid. I always look forward to what they have to do next. In this case, I wish they had stuck to their initial impulse of four years ago and decided not to repeat themselves.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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About This Blog
All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupStormshadow4life
February 17, 2012 at 3:14PM EST Reply to CommentThe Liam Neeson scene is one of the better things I've seen in a very long time. But that just might be because I'm depressed about having AIDS
Liam Full blown AIDS.
February 20, 2012 at 9:07AM ESTShitegeist
February 17, 2012 at 3:18PM EST Reply to CommentHaving watched the entire season during its original UK run I'd say that Alan has hit the nail on the head here. It's an intermittently funny mash-up of The Office and Extras, using the same character archetypes found in the earlier shows (Warwick = Brent from The Office, The Accountant = The Agent from Extras, Warwick's assistant = a more clueless version of Maggie from Extras, etc, etc).
The most egregious part of the show, however, is the shoe-horned celeb cameos, and the highly unnecessary presence of Gervais and Merchant, who are nothing but a distraction. I genuinely think the show would have been much better without their onscreen presence, because despite the obvious Brent parallels Warwick Davis is actually doing some fine comedic work here. His timing is impecable and his looks to camera are up their with Martin Freeman and Adam Scott.
Shitegeist "up there", rather. D'oh.
February 17, 2012 at 3:19PM ESTM I also watched the UK run and agree the celebrity cameos were often shoe-horned in. Unfortunately they were usually the funniest parts too.
February 17, 2012 at 3:40PM ESTJenn I agree about Warwick Davis' comedic timing and his looks to the camera. I was impressed.
February 20, 2012 at 1:05PM ESTroosterboy
February 17, 2012 at 3:20PM EST Reply to CommentThat Neeson scene is one of the funniest things I've ever seen and since first watching it a few months back I can't stop laughing about him bitching when Gervais slipped in some unagreed-upon backstory or just saying "Because I've got AIDS".
But apart from that one admittedly hilarious scene and the less funny but still amusing scene when Davis couldn't ring the buzzer (and the laughs were all about the other guy in that scene), the first episode was pretty bad. After the brilliance of The Office and Extras, this one was a major disappointment.
Ken Raining
February 17, 2012 at 4:33PM EST Reply to CommentI wonder how much of their decision to return to familiar territory has to do with the failure of "Cemetery Junction". For those that don't know, this is a movie Gervais and Merchant wrote and directed that was very different from their other work, and far less successful (and, truth be told, not very good). I wonder if that taste of relative critical and commercial failure made them decide to go back to doing what they do best.
Viginti
February 17, 2012 at 5:04PM EST Reply to CommentPeople seriously think that the kceleebrity scenes are problematic? Those were the ones that kept me coming back, sub-par to extras or no. Though over the course of the season they are held back and merged into Warick's stories, which made them much less effective to my mind; mainly because I was never sure whether the show was laying at Davis or at us for laughing at him, though neither of the two seemed all that appealing.
If you're going to watch a famous comedians British series than I would stick to Todd Margaret, at least that's did some interesting things with its arcs.
odessasteps
February 17, 2012 at 5:37PM EST Reply to CommentI wish you and Dan had discussed An Idiot Abroad in addition to Life's Too Short. I much preferred the former to the latter. Maybe it can be part of next week's Reality Round-Up on the podcast.
sepinwall Haven't seen it. Sorry. I don't think Science Channel sent it out.
February 17, 2012 at 6:07PM ESTDezbot It's been showing the past few weeks on Science Channel. Time Warner has it on-demand, too. You can catch up if you can shoehorn it in somewhere. :-)
February 17, 2012 at 6:15PM ESTAlbert
February 17, 2012 at 7:50PM EST Reply to CommentI would like remind us of Bill Simmons' theory about Eddie Murphy, about how he was brilliant at first but then his celebrity made him lose his ties to regular people and he lost his touch. Ricky Gervais, who I truly admire, seems to be on the same path. He started with the office which was based in everyday real office life, from there he went on to depict the everyday life of an actor, which is far less relatable, and now it's the everyday life of a celebrity, which only increases the series' focus on celebrity issues and star sighting, but decreases the relatability even more. I could relate to David Brent, who was brutal but didn't know he was brutal and would usually feel remorse if it finally dawned on him. I could relate to Andy Milman, who was at least somewhat kind, and both were struggling with real world issues. Warwick Davis, the character, is a git and a prat and has no redeeming qualities that might allow the viewer to relate to his misfortunes.
I think, and this also seems apparent to me in his stand up, that Gervais is becoming meaner, and is doubling down on defiance of those who are hurt by him. And while that may be a reasonable response in real life, when he injects warwick with this self indulgence and defiance he's turning warwick into an utterly unsympathetic character. Those two parts, to me, are the biggest reasons, besides the repetitiveness, why Life's too short falls flat on its ass.
February 18, 2012 at 2:41AM ESTCraig Ranapia
February 18, 2012 at 5:16AM EST Reply to CommentI'd be very happy if Gervais and Merchant really would be done forever with the idea that everyone should find their sniggering, asinine, mean-spirited sneering as fascinating as they do. Really, it's like being cornered at a cocktail party by a drunk with chips on both shoulders.
Anon.Z.Moose
February 18, 2012 at 3:08PM EST Reply to CommentTrue that this may not be the most inventive thing Gervais & Merchant (G/M) have done but I enjoyed the season thoroughly, even if some peaks were warts. What makes Life's Too Short especially admirable and makes me appreciative that G/M went forward with the show is that there really is nothing out there that engenders respect for little people the way that this show does. Perhaps that's just my ignorance, of course, but if I may proffer what I think G/M do so effectively here is their deployment of our stereotypes against us through humor and tragedy in that signature G/M style. It's affective and not something to sniff at! So I'm glad HBO picked it up. Like Cemetery Junction, it's a solid piece of work, just not a great one. And here's where Alan's other commentary has it right in pointing out that in part G/M suffer from high expectations. So give the show a chance: it will affect you in positive ways even if you don't belly laugh for a full 28 minutes.
Mike
February 21, 2012 at 12:35PM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed the premier episode and am willing to give the show a shot. Besides, there’s not much out there that can provide a good laugh on TV. As someone who never really watched Extras, maybe I am a little more tolerant of the rehashing of the “same old thing.” I am also someone who can only deal with Ricky Gervais in small doses.
I found Davis to be very entertaining to watch – as someone else mentioned, his timing, his glances into the camera – I thought he was fantastic. It wasn’t so much the fact that, after pulling into the old homestead, he fell out of the SUV while sitting on phonebooks but the glance that he gave the camera as he attempted to recover. His embarrassed looks as his wife shattered the image he sought to portray about his life, home and marriage to the camera were priceless. I really enjoyed watching him. The Neeson scene, while seemingly out of place for the show, I excuse because it was hilarious. I also appreciated it because Gervais wasn’t able to be his typical prickly self but was in the awkward position of performing “improvisational comedy” with Neeson playing the hypochondriac with full blown AIDS.
Again, maybe I’m not bringing along all the Extra’s “baggage” and have limited my exposure to Gervais in general –I think the show could do with less Gervais and more Davis.
Timm S
February 21, 2012 at 2:45PM EST Reply to CommentI get that Gervais is over and all, but I still like him and his comic sensibilities very much. I laughed heartily many times throughout this episode, as I did all through EXTRAS, as I did all through THE OFFICE.
But the Liam Neeson sketch was just beautiful. I guess G/M are...comedy consultants? Truth, it didn't fit anywhere or with anything, but it was funny and worked.
And I'll totally allow that Warwick Davis is a Dwarf David Brent, and that's not funny...why? And he's bringing to light the plight of the dwarf actor, which is something Gervais is truly sympathetic toward. It fits perfectly with Gervais's An AssholeIsAnAsshole mentality, and I love every minute of it.
Personally, I don't think the reaction and rating of this show has anything to do with the content of the show itself, but with the Gervais backlash.