Saturday 28 January 2012

Life's Too Short: Episode 4 Review

Life IS Too Short for painfully unfunny comedies - like this one!

Last week I deluded myself.
I thought that Gervais and Merchant actually had a message to put across with this series - this week's episode told me how wrong I was.

Episode 4 sees Warwick negotiating with his wife about his divorce, and also sees him move into a new house - that's it. Where recently I thought I saw a plot emerging, I now realise that this is just as plotless as before. Nothing happens - not just in this episode, but generally throughout the whole series - nothing has happened. And this poor plot just makes the series so boring to sit through.


What doesn't help is that the comedy in this episode is non-existent. The series has never been laugh-out-loud, but this episode is about as fun as a lecture about the history of envelopes.

What doesn't help is that Warwick's character, i.e. the one in every scene, remains unlikeable and a complete d**k-head. I know he was written this way - but I can't think why. Had the character been a nice one, then not only could I have sympathised with him, but also it would have been a breath of fresh air from Gervais and Merchant's usual work.

This week's main cameo comes from Steve Carell, and is by far the worst yet. With the exception of Liam Neeson (Episode 1), none of the cameos have been too spectacular - but this one just isn't funny at all. It's just an awkward Skype call, that provides no laughs. This is so disappointing as Carell is capable of a lot more.

And, although it pains me to say it, not even Cheryl (Warwick's dim assistant) could make me laugh this week.
Gervais and Merchant have gone for obvious humour that a 5-year old could have come up with, and thrown in some unfunny, but instead verging on offensive jokes, about Dwarfism.

Episode 4 really is a new low for this already average series. It failed to create many laughs at any point, including during the guest appearance. It's becoming very hard to believe that this came from the minds behind Extras and The Office.


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