It was too long. Much of the middle part of Andy's ascent into arrogance was overplayed.
Gervais, once again showing his penchant for certain things, and overusing them. For example, the word 'Mental'. How many times does he use it? It's one thing putting it into the mouth of your own character, it's another forcing it into the mouth of Clive Owen, for instance.
Then we get what I feel was the largest tang of hypocrisy. I've always felt that Gervais has based Millman on himself.
A person who has spent many years trying to make a breakthrough. When he does, there is an inordinate amount of pressure for him to sell-out his own beliefs of quality and follow the path of perceived popular need (the sitcom).
Then it's like an alternate-universe Gervais. The same pressures were on him when he and Merchant were pedalling The Office to the BBC. They managed to get their own way with every aspect and created a wonderful series very much against the grain of what the BBC were producing. It managed to lampoon the success of Docu-reality shows. Millman, to me, is the man that wanted the success too quickly. It's Gervais saying "What if I had done what they asked me?".
The the Millman character manages to overcome all that. He says 'Fuck fame', which ironically is the absolute opposite of what Gervais has become. He continues to laugh at himself (Gervais), but now I feel its coming with a certain level of arrogance. He's not naturally at home in a standup role, but watch his three standup tour DVDs, and you'll see a gradual decline in quality, and even worse - an emphasis on himself.
The last one, 'Fame', can more or less be shoehorned into the Millman character's path. When Gervais chose to write that Millman will turn his back on it all, I can't help but feel that was more than a dash of hypocrisy & arrogance in it.
Now - the good stuff. Gervais nearly always manages to write in Britains own Z-Listers in an amusing way (Gaffney, ect). In many ways the 'pathetic' portraits of these people are more welcoming than the 'Big' stars, like Clive Owen, whom Gervais always managed to write as excactly the same caricature of each other (Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet ect).
It was good entertainment in all. Just 20-25 minutes too long.
